The Man Who Fell to Earth -- Who?
by Douglas Neman
Summary: Sequel to my novella "Earth Who." The title is actually "The Man Who Fell to Earth - Who!" but strips off the last characters (grrr!). Eden Advance meets the 4th Doctor, Romana and K-9. Together with the 1st Doctor, they experience an amazing tangle of mystery, action, and time travel. Contains a cameo by the main character of my "Earth 2" short story "Lost Worlds."
1. The Story Before the Story

"Doug," my physician said, "there is no shame in going to someone else for help, especially if the threat is serious. Now, tell me honestly - have you been writing again?"

I couldn't meet her gaze. I just sat there with my eyes squeezed shut, my head in one hand. Then I barely nodded.

She sighed. "Doug - I don't know what else to say to you. You've got to stop this. This compulsion you have with writing fanfic is consuming you! It's your drug of choice. When are you going to get it through your head that this is just as serious and deadly as any addiction to cocaine, or heroin? I mean - look at you! You're coming apart at the seams! You haven't eaten well lately, you're always late for work, your family hasn't heard from you in months-"

"I called them three weeks ago," I interrupted her.

"Oh, brav- _o_ ," she said. "And if I remember correctly, they hadn't heard from you in so long, they thought it was a prank being played on them by one of your father's _coworkers!"_

"My dad's a college professor," I mumbled. "There are people he works with who would do that."

"That's not the point! Doug, this is serious. Whenever you write fan fiction, you lose yourself in an altered state of mind. When this happens, the chemical composition of your brain actually changes, and just like a cocaine addict, you could burst an aneurysm at any moment! You are risking your life by doing this! Do you understand?"

I nodded. "I do understand. But I still can't stop! I don't know what else to do! It's like nothing else in the world matters!"

"Have you contacted the FFA recently?"

"The Future Farmers of America?"

She gave me a hard look. She didn't think that was too funny.

"Fan-Fic Anonymous," she said stiffly.

"Oh, yeah," I said, looking away again. "No, I haven't been to a meeting in several...months."

"Did you get rid of your computer?" she asked.

"Yes," I said weakly.

"That's great!" her face lit up. "That's progress!"

"Then I couldn't stand writing with a pen and paper any more, so I dug it out of the dumpster."

Her face fell. She was silent for many moments. Then she handed me her card. "Well, until you hurt yourself so much that you actually want help, there's not much more I can do. Here's my number - again. Call me, or someone in your support group, the moment you feel like writing again. Okay?"

"Okay," I whispered, taking the card.

I stumbled out into an uncertain world. I had to sprint to catch the bus home. I sat staring out the window, watching the world slide past, reading street signs, wondering how I could abandon all the plots, all the clever ideas, dancing around my brain. If I didn't write them, they would be inside my head forever. What was I to do?

I should have known better than to read the street signs. I knew what was coming. But I did it anyway.

It slid past in the dusk: "Yale Boulevard."

My insides clutched up, and I almost screamed as my eyes whirled in despair. Oh, no! "The Man Who Fell to Earth - Who?!" The sequel to "Earth Who," my second _Earth 2_ / _Doctor Who_ crossover! How could I forget that? How could I lay such wonderful ideas aside, unwritten, for the rest of my life, as if they didn't matter? HOW?!

I didn't think. There's no thinking involved in a mental illness. (Hence the term.) I leaped out of the bus when it reached my stop. I sprinted home, not bothering to get the mail, ignoring my neighbors. I rushed inside and turned on the computer, literally dancing around while it slowly called up my writing program. I shoved dirty dishes aside to get to the phone and hastily ordered yet another pizza. I didn't have time to think of paltry things like food, paying bills, or going to my job in the morning!

There was work to do!

I think the pizza got there. I can't recall. I lost all track of time. I stayed up the whole night; the house was dark, my face lit by the glow of the computer screen as I gleefully pounded out the words of yet another adventure in the lives of Eden Project, silently praying all the while, "Please let me last long enough to finish this, pleeeeeeaase!"

I giggled insanely the whole time...


	2. Prologue

(Being two excerpts from "Earth Who")

 _Excerpt #1_

The Doctor was dying.

Trapped in a concrete darkness, unable to move a muscle, he began to drift in and out of conciousness. His emergency air supply wasn't going to hold out much longer.

He wondered if he would quickly regenerate five times, while buried beneath the ground. It was a horrible thought – dying of suffocation five times over.

He was getting delirious. Old faces – friends and enemies alike – were beginning to come to mind, and they were saying the dumbest things. The Master wanted to fly a kite with him – something to do with the air he so desperately needed? He couldn't tell. He'd long ago learned to tune out whatever the Master was saying, anyway. Jo Grant was dancing with a Dalek, which sometimes became the Brigadier. Daleks and Brigadiers – yes, they were alike, in a strange, twisted sort of way. At least he could trust the Brigadier to care.

Then he was in a restaurant of some sort. "The Grendler Bar and Grille," it said. It was a nice place – piano in the corner, low light, plush cushions. Very fancy.

He walked in and sat at the bar, feeling as if his clothes were out of place. The bar-stool seats were bright red leather. Plants adorned either end of the bar. His koba friend sat on the stool next to him. The little animal had an eyepatch, and a bright grin on its face.

"Get you something?" it asked.

"Yes, indeed," the Doctor replied. But he wasn't himself. He was his fourth self, the one with the scarf and that _appalling_ sense of humor, because he couldn't stand it if he wasn't the life of the party.

Great – a past regeneration. They were always lurking around the subconscious somewhere. They bubbled up in times like these.

Suddenly, it was his first self – the old grandfather figure – who was at the bar.

"You there, young man," he said cheerfully. The bartender was a Terrian, in a white shirt and black vest. It was wiping glasses, its back turned to him.

"I'd like to order a Double Moon Cross for myself, and a Sonic Screwdriver for my friend, here," he said. But the Terrian did not turn around. It continued wiping its glass.

The voices of the others in the restaurant were becoming louder, for some reason. The Doctor started to reach over and tug the bartender's sleeve, when suddenly the noise reached a deafening roar. He put his hands to his ears. "Barbara – take Susan and get her out of here, now!" he snapped. He looked up to see the bartender looking over the bar at him.

Then the voices receded to a murmur. They sounded like a billion voices whisper-ing on the edge of sleep, voices he could never quite hear no matter how hard he tried to listen, and could never quite reach no matter how far he traveled.

But that didn't mean the voices couldn't reach _him_ – if he asked.

They were trying to tell him something. What were they saying? How did he lis-ten? What did he have to...feel?

"Connect with us," they seemed to be saying. "Connect with us again." They didn't use words. The Doctor could only feel the desire.

"When did I connect with you?" he felt back.

Memories came at him. Not his own; a racial memories. "You came to us millenia ago," he felt. "Your body was different, your granddaughter was with you. We were be-coming what we are today, but we were afraid. You calmed our fears, and helped us with the changes we were experiencing. You were happy for us. We did not agree with every-thing you said, but we respected your wisdom, and have always remembered you for it. We knew you when you landed. Your face was different, but we sensed the soul inside."

* * *

 _Excerpt #2_

She looked him squarely in the eye. "Will you take us to New Pacifica? Please?"

He avoided her gaze, looking out at the land over her shoulder. "What did you mean when you told Ulysses he would one day understand about time travel?" he asked softly.

She hesitated, then found herself telling the Doctor about her experience with a grown-up Ulysses from the future, and how that gave her hope that they would reach New Pacifica.

"But you won't take us there, will you?" she asked again.

"And deny you that journey?" he replied. "Would I really be doing you a favor?"

"Journeys are fine, but not journeys which are deadly."

"Any journey can be deadly."

She sighed. "We have already lost lives on this journey. We've lost some very fine people who didn't deserve to die, who never deserved to have any of this happen to them. What if by giving us a lift you saved _more_ lives? What if you saved the life of my son?"

"What if I took you to New Pacifica and a tidal wave washed you all out to sea?"

"That's not an answer, and you know it."

"Devon," the Doctor said, "do I strike you as a malicious man, who would deny you aid?"

"No, you don't, which is why I can't understand why you're turning us down."

"I'm not turning you down, Devon. Believe me, I _can't_ help you."

Devon's face cleared; suddenly she understood. "You know our future, don't you?"

The Doctor was silent for a moment. Then, "Yes. Yes, I do," he said. "After the Terrians reminded me when I'd been here before, I started remembering more. And I can't tell you how I know, or how much, or how far in the future, or in what context I know. I just do. Some strands of the web of time have already crystallized along your path, Devon Adair, and if I tried to take you to New Pacifica now, _I would not be able to._ The TAR-DIS would end up on Mars, or 18th-century France, or Cirinus Minima, and you and the others would end up helping me fight Daleks and Cybermen and Terrileptils trying to take over _entire_ planets," – Devon let out a single laugh, despite herself – "and - and - and if you think you're lost and frustrated now, try spending three months with me! You'd be begging me to bring you right back here! We'd be able to go just about anywhere, any time...except New Pacifica, right now."

Devon smiled a wistful smile of acceptance, and nodded softly. She didn't pretend to understand all that the Doctor was trying to tell her, but she knew she could trust him. And if he said he couldn't get them to New Pacifica, then no one could.

No one but themselves.

And she knew in that moment that the Doctor existed in a realm she could never understand. He was a wanderer in space and time, able to see the entire cosmos; he lived on a grand scale, overthrowing tyrants, saving planets, keeping invading armies at bay, and making sure little boys and girls all over the galaxy slept safe in their beds at night, because he was out there, doing his best to make sure the monsters couldn't reach them.

And maybe she was alive today because the Doctor had risked his life for the hu-man race in some long century past. And even trapped and vulnerable on this new world, with strange aliens and penal colonists and ZEDs and Council agents – she felt better knowing he would be out there amongst the stars, fighting for her, and maybe even dying for her.

Dying again and again.

"You won't forget us, will you?" she asked.

"Not for a thousand more years," he smiled, and she stepped forward and hugged him, hugged him close.

"And I envy you, Devon," he said. "This journey you're making, this family you found. In all my travels, I've witnessed it over and over again. But the biggest price I pay for my freedom is not having a family of my own."

"Well, you're always welcome here, and you know where to find us."

"Yes," he said. "Yes, I do."

She let him go, and squeezed his hand. He winked, just once and turned away. He walked to the TARDIS, his funny little police telephone box that was really a time ma-chine. She followed him as everyone gathered around, shook hands, and said, "Thanks. Thanks for helping us out."

He said goodbye to Ulysses last of all. Strangely, he seemed more at peace with the Doctor's leaving than anyone, as if he knew it had to be. Devon wondered if her son now knew as much about time, through his Terrian link, as the Doctor did. She suspected it was so.

As the Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS, Uly asked, "Will we see you again?"

"Of course we'll see him again, Uly," Devon smiled down at her son, then looked up at the Doctor. "How else would he know what will happen to us if he hadn't met us before – in the future?"


	3. Chapter 1

Julia pulled down a tree branch and peeked through. Alonzo came up behind her.

"There it is," she pointed. "I knew we weren't hearing things!"

About 30 yards up the slope was an opening in the rock. Every few seconds, an occasional flash and bang escaped from inside. They smiled.

"Looks like we found another spider tunnel!" Alonzo said.

Julia swung her gear around in front of her eye. He stopped her, asking, "Hey - what are you doing?"

"Telling the others what we found," she said. "Why?"

"Why do we need to do that?" he grinned. "I was hoping maybe on the other side of that tunnel was a nice, tropical lagoon," he grabbed her playfully, "and we wouldn't be bothered by anybody!"

She was laughing. "Alonzo!"

"Come on!" he smiled down at her. "Let's keep this to ourselves! Just for a day or two."

She stopped struggling and looked into his eyes. She then quickly motioned to the cave with her head. "Let's go," she whispered.

They squeezed through the tiny opening, holding hands. At the far end of the cave were spider webs. Every few seconds, a wash of energy would extend the length of the narrow cave.

They waited until one went past, then immediately stood in the middle of the cave, clutching each other tightly - no letting go this time!

The energy wrapped them up and transported them elsewhere.

And they almost died.

* * *

Several months after reaching New Pacifica, Julia had found an edible plant which made a wonderful, strong tea. It was the first change the members of Eden Project had in their diet in almost two years.

Danziger poured himself a hot cup. He looked with sadness at Devon, sitting in front of the radio with her back to him, ever vigilant. He poured a second cup and set it down next to her.

She immediately picked it up, alarmed. "John, don't set drinks next to the equipment, please!" she scolded him.

"Sorry," he muttered, completely unflustered. He turned to go.

She reached out a hand. "I'm sorry, John," she sighed. "I don't mean to take it out on you."

"Yeah, I know," he said, with the lightest of smiles. "Trust me, Adair, I've learned to deal with your moods."

She lowered her head and smiled a weary smile. Then, without raising her head, she looked up at him with her blue eyes, bemused.

"Why don't you just let Zero listen?" Danziger asked. "Get some rest?"

She shook her head. "I can't," she whispered.

He set his tea down on an opposite workbench and sat next to her. He put his arm around her and she leaned on his shoulder, as natural and as comfortable as two people who had known each other all their lives. They stayed like that for many moments.

Finally, Danziger said softly, "Perhaps we were naive to think that the Council wouldn't sabotage the colony ship, too."

Devon was silent.

"I mean, think about it," he continued. "The Council didn't figure we would ever make it here. They went through an awful lot of trouble to keep a handful of people from setting foot on this planet - so how much trouble do you think they'd go through to keep over a thousand people from landing? Hmm?"

"I don't _want_ to think about it," Devon said. "It's been 72 days since they should have arrived. I keep telling myself that in interstellar terms, that's actually not very long at all - that even a small power shortage in one of their engines would delay them by three months to a year. That's what Alonzo says.

"But I have this awful feeling, John." She raised her head to look at him, her eyes wet. "I have this awful feeling that something terrible has happened!"

* * *

Clebadee was soaring.

Others were there, flying with him. They all flew together, coordinated, as if they were one mind. It was _so_ beautiful! He never wanted it to end!

"Come join us!" the others called. "And bring the others along!"

"Others?" he called, trying to ignore the fear which pierced his gut. "What others?"

"The others in your tribe!" they called back. "Bring them! Bring-"

Clebadee woke.

His head jerked up, staring around him wildly. His heart beat fast. He peered desperately into the shadows. Had anyone seen? He trembled.

Then he realized he was crouched in the Dreamer position. His knees pointed up, and his hands were flat against the floor of the cave.

He stood up suddenly, yanking his hands back as if he'd touched a fire, and stared at them. Then he nervously looked around again to make sure no one had seen.

It didn't appear that anyone had. He walked on, attending to his duties.

Was he taking part in the mysterious Dreaming? Did he have the disease? It was all too likely. The disease was the most widely-spread affliction the Terrian people had ever experienced. It seemed to be spreading everywhere, randomly. And no one could figure out how.

There was no way of knowing if he truly had it, though, and no way that he knew of to calm his fears. If he even made a casual inquiry about the symptoms of the disease, everyone would wonder why he was asking, and everyone would watch him. Watch him to see if he was sick. They wouldn't be interested in answering his questions, or helping him.

He would become an outcast.

He grabbed two bags hanging by the entrance of the cave and headed for the stream. All he could do was wait, and hope he wasn't infected.

There was no one he could turn to for help.

* * *

"Well, Doctor," Ian said. "I've got to hand it to you. We keep getting closer every time."

"Hmm?" the Doctor looked up at him testily. He pierced him with his sharp, bright eyes over his spectacles, but only for a moment. His usual tack was to ignore the human, but his curiosity got the better of him, in spite of himself. "What are you talking about, Chestleton?"

Ian Chesterton ignored the way the Doctor bungled his last name.

In fact, he'd started a list of all the interesting variations on his name which the Doctor sometimes formed in his absentmindedness. During their travels, the Doctor had called him "Chesterfield," "Chesterform," "Chattleton," "Cheston," and, most amusingly, "Chestnut," among many others. He made a mental note to remember "Chestleton." That was a new one.

And he suspected he would never know whether the Doctor did it on purpose, just to provoke him. The old man sometimes didn't seem comfortable unless he was up to his neck in trouble.

"Getting Barbara and myself back home," he smiled. "In the last six months, you've actually managed to land on Earth three times. First in the 13th century, then in the 15th, and finally in the 18th. I figure we're getting closer every time, and pretty soon, now, you'll be hitting the 20th!"

"Hmp," was all the Doctor said, clearly disappointed that he'd bothered to ask.

Ian wasn't fooled. He knew the real reason the Doctor didn't pursue the conversation was because he was embarrassed to.

The Doctor hated admitting that he couldn't pilot the TARDIS.

He didn't know much about the Doctor. Despite their adventures together, and the very real friendship which had formed among everyone on board, the Doctor was extremely private about where he came from and who he was.

All Ian knew was that somewhere out there in the cosmos was someone - or some _thing_ \- which frightened the Doctor considerably.

Something he was running from.

He and Barbara were teachers at the Coal Hill School, in London. He taught science, Barbara taught history. The Doctor, in an effort to hide from whomever it was he feared so much, had decided to lay low on Earth for a while. The only companion he had was his 15-year-old granddaughter, Susan. Against his better judgment, he had grudgingly allowed Susan to attend the nearby Coal Hill School.

Intrigued by a child who could be so incredibly intelligent, yet so amazingly ignorant of the simplest things, he and Barbara had investigated her home background.

They had no way of knowing that Susan would turn out to be an alien, and that "home" would be a space/time machine. Nor could they have realized that her grandfather would leave the 20th century, taking them with him, because he couldn't afford to let anyone loose who had stumbled upon his secret.

To say that he and Barbara had been a little upset at being kidnapped from their home and flung off to alien worlds was an understatement. And the Doctor had only made matters worse when he told them that he couldn't get them back because he didn't know how to pilot the TARDIS properly.

But as the Doctor himself had said, "Fear makes companions of all of us." In their efforts to survive the days after being plunged into the Doctor's strange world, they had gotten to know one another. The Doctor had subsequently apologized for his rash behavior, and was now trying to get them back home to the London of 1963.

He always failed, of course. Wherever they landed it was certainly interesting, and usually dangerous. The four of them had shared a number of adventures together.

Over time, Ian and Barbara had gotten to like the Doctor, and he had a grudging respect for them both. Although the Doctor was difficult and crabby, he was also very wise in his own way, and they had been through enough perils with him to know that he was a good man.

It was just that he was a proud man, as well. And he avoided this conversation with the two meddlesome teachers, as he called them, whenever it came up.

"Don't be so sure, Chatterton," the Doctor said. He peered down through his spectacles at some readouts on the TARDIS console. "If we're following a pattern, as you so naively suggest, we might skip the 20th century altogether. We might end up even further in the future."

Ian smiled, and leaned forward a little. "You know, just between you and me Doctor, I wouldn't mind another look at the future again, myself."

The Doctor interlocked his fingers in front of him and smiled back, a momentary rapport struck between them, as one scientist to another - the desire to explore.

"Excellent, Chesterton, excellent, excellent!" he giggled. "For that's exactly where we are!"

Ian's face fell. Only then did he notice that the central console had stopped, and suddenly he found himself regretting what he'd just said.

The Doctor was wiping his spectacles clean with his handkerchief. Without looking up, he said, "You'd, ah - you'd better go and fetch Barbara and Susan. I think we'll just have a quick look around."

"Must we?" Ian asked. "If you already know we're in the future, why can't we just take off and try again?"

"Oh, tut tut, Chesterlin! I'll get you and Barbara back soon enough, so stop going on about it! Go and tell them we've arrived, and come meet me outside." He activated the door control. "Who knows - we might learn something useful, hmm?" He disappeared through the door.

Yes, Ian thought, and we might get our heads blown off by a Dalek.

He shook his head and went to get Barbara and Susan. He knew better than to argue with the Doctor when there was someplace new to see.

* * *

The huge ship lumbered through space, alive but unattended.

At the far end of a small side passage, a blue police telephone box ground into existence. The door opened and out stepped a man, a woman and a robot.

"Did not," said the man.

"Did so," said the woman.

"Did not," said the man.

"Did so," said the woman.

"Did - look, are we going to go on like this for very much longer?"

"I certainly hope not. As soon as you admit your mistake, we can stop."

"My- _my_ mistake?" the man asked.

"K-9," the woman asked, "did the Doctor not say we were headed for a pleasure cruise on the Galaxy Zero run in Mutter's Spiral?"

"Affirmative, mistress."

The Doctor looked down at his little robot dog. K-9 was about a meter long, with a box-like body which ran on wheels. He had an antenna for a tail, two small radar dishes for ears, another extendible antenna just below the eyes, and a stun gun which could extend from the end of his boxed nose.

In a flash, the Doctor dropped to the ground, his face inches from K-9. "Did I really?" he asked.

"Affirmative, master."

The woman haughtily looked around her, triumphant at having won the argument.

"Oh. Well," the Doctor waved his hand around, "I might have mentioned something along those lines. But those cruises can be very dangerous. Very dangerous, indeed. Taking a joyride through the cluster of black holes at the heart of a galaxy. Only a matter of time until they have an accident. It's nothing we should be doing. Tempting fate, and all that."

The Doctor leaped up again, studying their surroundings.

"Well, where do you suppose we are?" the woman asked.

The Doctor suddenly held up his hand as if he'd had a revelation, then pointed straight at her. "Romana - I'll defer to you. You tell _me_ where we are."

"All right." She glanced around. "The English language on all the signs and readouts tells me it's an Earth ship. By the design, I should say it's mid to late 22nd century. All these compartments are cryo-sleep chambers. This one is numbered 326, and they stretch on, so I imagine this ship is very huge. It's probably carrying all of these people to a nearby planet to set up a colony."

The Doctor, looking out a window into space, had his chin thrust out and his eyes wide as he listened. Then he nodded and said, "But why are they still asleep?"

"What do you mean? Why shouldn't they still be asleep?"

"Look," he pointed out the window.

Romana looked out also, and saw a nearby star.

"I say!" she was astonished. "We're very close to it, aren't we? If an interstellar ship is _this_ close to a star, that means it's either just arriving or just departing. But that's not the Earth's sun, which means that this ship has already reached its destination. Or very close to it, anyway."

"But no one's awake yet," the Doctor murmured. "I wonder why."

* * *

Clebadee had just bent down to fill the water bags when, on the other side of the stream, the blue box appeared with the noise of a sick wind.

He gurgled in terror. He was too afraid to move.

After a few seconds, a door opened in the side of the box, and out stepped a creature the likes of which Clebadee had never seen.

It walked on two legs, like himself, but the resemblance ended there. The creature's skin was white and smooth, instead of brown and rough, like his own. It had white hair on the top of its head, wore garments of a finely-made cloth, and carried an ornate walking stick. Or was it a weapon?

The creature saw him, stopped, and its mouth spread larger from side to side.

Clebadee started to back away.

The creature actually crouched down on its knees and stretched out a hand. He didn't recognize the expression on its face, but for some reason, Clebadee could tell that the creature was trying to display friendliness.

Then the door opened again, and _three more_ of the strange creatures came out! It was too much. With a wail, Clebadee turned and fled back to the caves, leaving the water bags behind.

"Oh!" the Doctor stood up and turned around. "How could you? I was just about to make friends with that poor fellow when the three of you scared the daylights out of him!"

"Grandfather, it wasn't our fault!" Susan protested. "How were we to know?" Barbara and Ian just looked at each other and shook their heads. By now, they knew when to ignore the Doctor's childish outbursts.

"Hmp. Well, I intend to follow it. It seems to have some knowledge -" he pointed to the water bags the creature had left behind "- so maybe it has enough intelligence to tell us exactly where and when we are. And the more knowledge I have about our position, the better chances I have of getting you home!"

Ian sighed and gestured ahead. With another "Hmp," the Doctor turned and set off at a brisk pace.


	4. Chapter 2

The Doctor, Romana and K-9 made their way forward through the vast ship, their footsteps and K-9's wheels echoing along the endless, dark passages. It had "Eden Project" written all over it. There was gravity, but it was very cold. This didn't bother them - as Time Lords, their bodies could withstand an incredible extreme of temperatures for short periods. Their breath hung in the air. After a few minutes, they found the bridge.

The Doctor and Romana sat in the two forward pilots' chairs.

"K-9, see if there's anything wrong with the ship," Romana ordered.

"Affirmative, mistress." K-9's forward antenna stretched out and made contact with a terminal, while the Doctor accessed the main databank to find history and key personnel.

"When everyone's in stasis," he said, "the medical officer is usually the first to be revived. According to the registry, that would be Dr. Vasquez. Cold sleep chamber number one."

"Makes sense," Romana said.

"K-9, have you found anything yet?" the Doctor asked.

K-9 did not answer immediately. A stream of soft, high-pitched noises came from him as he spoke with the ship's computer. Then his antenna retracted.

"There are two separate problems with the ship, master," K-9 said. "The first is that it is off course by a minute amount. The second is that the scheduled revival has been canceled."

"What?" Romana gasped.

"Canceled?" the Doctor asked. "You mean deliberately?"

"Affirmative. The order was specific."

"Who gave the order?" the Doctor asked.

"That information is not available."

"It might have been for medical reasons," Romana said. "Perhaps there's a plague on board, and they're awaiting rendezvous with a medical ship, and everyone's in stasis to keep them alive."

"Negative, mistress. A considerable number of people on board are sick, mostly children. But that was not the reason for the cancellation."

The two Time Lords looked at each other.

"Sabotage," Romana said grimly.

The Doctor stood up. "All right, Romana. The history of Eden Project indicates that there is an advance group already on the third planet, called G889. You get in touch with them. I'm going to revive Dr. Vasquez and the pilot. Come on, K-9!"

And the Doctor was gone, his long scarf whipping after him. As K-9 trundled out, trying to keep up, Romana turned to the radio. It had a visual feed, which gave nothing but static at first.

"Eden colony ship to Eden Advance," she called. "Is anyone receiving? Over."

* * *

Devon and Danziger both just about leaped off the bench. Devon's tea went in Danziger's lap, and he yelped in pain. She didn't pay attention; she was already madly activating the receiver.

"Hello?" she called. On the vidscreen in front of her appeared a blonde woman. One she had never seen before in her life.

"Hello?" the woman called back. She smiled, and spoke in a British accent. "Am I speaking to Eden Advance?"

"Uh, well, uh - yes! Yes, you are," Devon replied. "Who are you?"

"My name is Romanadvoratrelundar. But you can call me Romana." She smiled. "What's your name?"

"Devon," she answered slowly. "I'm Devon Adair. This is John Danziger. What's going on?" She was incredulous. "Are you on our colony ship?"

Danziger pulled his gear on. "Julia, get in here!" he said urgently. "Morgan, too! We made contact with the colony ship!"

Romana answered, "We're explorers, and we come in peace. We found your ship drifting in space. It's off course, and everyone's still in cryogenic suspension. We suspect something has gone wrong, but we're trying to correct the problem."

Devon was trying to take all this in. "'We?' Who's 'we?'"

"Oh, just myself and my companions, the Doctor and K-9."

 _"The Doctor?"_ Devon and Danziger exclaimed in unison.

"That's right," Romana said. "Do you know him?"

"Uh, well - _yes,_ we know him!" Devon replied, smiling. "We met him about a year ago!"

Instead of being excited, Romana's face crumpled in worry. "Did you, indeed?" She paused. "Could you tell me what he looked like?"

Devon just blinked at her. "Beg pardon?" she asked.

"What did the Doctor look like?" Romana asked. "Was he a big man with outrageously curly hair, wear a hat and a tremendously long scarf?"

"No," Devon shook her head. "No, the gentleman we met was tall, thin, and dressed in a long brown coat. Like he stepped out of an old western, actually. Why, is something wrong?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Romana replied. "Could you excuse me one moment?"

And with that the communication was cut.

Devon and Danziger stared at each other in confusion.

The door opened and almost everyone piled inside, breathless, excited, and all talking at once.

"Dad, is it really them?"

"Are they here?"

"What happened?"

"What's going on?"

Devon and Danziger slowly turned. "We don't know," Danziger replied.

* * *

Romana found the Doctor inspecting the controls to cryo-sleep chamber number one, with K-9 assisting.

"Doctor," she said. "I've gotten through to the advance colonists. But there's something I must ask you, as one Time Lord to another."

Without looking up, he muttered, "Technically speaking, you're a Time Lady, not a Time Lord."

"Affirmative," K-9 agreed.

"Oh, hush, K-9, there's a good boy. Doctor, don't argue grammar with me. Will you please give me a brief description of your past selves?"

The Doctor's eyes grew wide and he looked up. For a second, Romana thought he might challenge her on that. But her manner told him to take the question seriously.

"Well," he stood up. "The past isn't something I dwell on. But if you must know, before I regenerated, I was tall, thin, with white hair, and I had a ridiculous liking for velvet smoking jackets and frill-fronted shirts."

His face showed a slight grimace at the memory.

"Before that, I was short, with dark hair, and I wore a long frock coat and checked trousers. And a bow tie, I believe..."

His voice trailed off as he tried to recall what his former incarnations looked like. He rarely thought about them. When he did, it was almost like thinking of someone else, not himself.

"And before that?"

"Hmm? Oh, before that...well, before that, I had never regenerated before. That was the body I was born with. Most of the time I believe my hair was white, and I carried a cane." He remembered something else. "And I was terribly rude a lot of the time. Which reminds me - I really must get around to visiting Ian and Barbara someday, see how they're getting on. I finally got them back, you know."

"Yes, I daresay. At least you've learned to steer the TARDIS properly since then."

"There's never been anything wrong with my steering!" he shouted.

"Believe as you wish. Thanks for the information."

"Should I ask?"

"No."

The Doctor nodded as he watched her stride back to the bridge. "As one Time Lord to another," he muttered.

* * *

Julia and Alonzo had almost made it back to the colony when they heard Danziger's call.

"Julia, get in here! Morgan, too! We made contact with the colony ship!"

They looked at each other for a split second, then sprinted the last several hundred yards to the hut, ignoring their injuries. When they burst in, they saw that everyone else was already there.

Devon turned. "There you are- Oh, my God! What happened?"

Julia and Alonzo were a mess.

They stood there guiltily, and glanced at each other. Then Julia said awkwardly, "We...found another spider warp...tunnel...thingy." She cleared her throat. "We took it."

"You _what?"_ Devon exploded. "Without telling anyone what you were doing? Are you out of your mind?"

"We wanted to see where the tunnel went before we told anyone about it," Alonzo said, trying to take a little of the heat off Julia.

"What happened?" Magus asked. "Where did it go?"

"This tunnel went somewhere very far away - to either the north pole or the south pole, we don't know which." Julia said this as the others made room for them on a bench. They sat down gratefully. "It was well below freezing at the other end, and the only clothes we had on is what you see. The drop in temperature was so sudden, and was so extreme, anyone with a weak metabolism might have died from the shock. If we had remained there for five minutes, we would have frozen to death."

"The cold didn't do this," Denner said, dabbing at the congealed blood on their faces.

"No," Alonzo said. "The wolves did this."

"Wolves?" everyone gasped.

"Yeah. Even though we were freezing, Julia insisted on staying just long enough to collect a couple of spiders for study."

Julia pulled out a small, glass jar. Everyone crowded around. Inside were three spiders, milky white to transparent.

"They're like crystals!" True exclaimed. "They're ice-spiders!"

"While we were collecting them, these wolves jumped us from behind," Alonzo said. "The only reason we're alive is because a spider-burst caught us and brought us back."

"Weren't the wolves brought back with you?" Yale asked.

"No," Julia shook her head. "They were right in the middle of it just like we were, but only we returned. It was like the wolves were immune to it, somehow."

The gear channel beeped again, and Romana was back.

"Hello, are you still there?" Romana asked.

"We're here," Devon turned back around. "What's going on?"

"The Doctor is reviving Dr. Vasquez," Romana smiled. "And then we'll bring up the pilot. But listen - there's something very important I need to explain to you. When you met the Doctor before, did he tell you he was a time traveler?"

Devon glanced at Danziger. Apprehensively, she answered, "Yes."

"Ah. Did he tell you about the phenomenon of regeneration?"

She shook her head.

"All right. Listen carefully. When we Time Lords are mortally wounded, or our bodies wear out because of old age, we undergo a complete cellular regeneration. When this happens, our appearances change. So do our personalities, to a varying degree. So the Doctor is going to look differently from what you remember."

Devon just shrugged. "All right. Why is that important?"

"Well, in and of itself, it isn't important. _This_ is: the Doctor who is my companion, currently reviving Dr. Vasquez, has never met you before."

"What?" Danziger asked.

"Whichever of the Doctor's regenerations you met," Romana explained, "is a _future_ one. As far as _my_ Doctor is concerned, your first meeting hasn't happened yet."

Devon let her face fall into her hands. "He told me about this," she said. "He said he knew who we were, because he'd met us before in his own personal past."

Romana's face brightened. "Oh, good! So you were expecting this to happen someday. Now, he didn't tell you anything about your own personal future, did he?"

"No. He refused."

"Good. That's as it should be. Now, the whole point I'm building up to is: _you must do the same!_ When you speak with the Doctor, it is vital that you tell him absolutely nothing about what happened the first time you met him. In fact, it would be a lot easier if you just pretend you've never met him at all."

Danziger was also rubbing his face tiredly. "I suppose it wouldn't be acceptable to maybe tell him about the ZED so he can be better equipped to deal with it when he gets there?"

Romana was shocked. "Absolutely not, Mr. Danziger! That is strictly forbidden! And with good reason, too!"

He sighed. "Figured something like that. Does this mean we have to introduce ourselves all over again?"

"'Fraid so!" She smiled. Romana was really enjoying herself here.

Devon wondered if all Time Lords were like her and the Doctor. She sighed, also. "The Doctor drops in on us, and within five minutes, I _again_ feel like he has turned everything topsy-turvy!"

Romana beamed. "You _have_ met him before!"

* * *

Clebadee burst into the central chamber, his eyes wild. Several others scattered from him, alarmed.

Clebadee looked around madly for Elder Zilin. He found him talking in a corner with Elder Darlo.

"Elders!" he cried, falling on his knees in front of them. "The Gods! I have seen the Gods fall from the sky! They chased me!"

The two elders looked down at Clebadee, then at each other, then back to Clebadee.

"Could you perhaps be a bit more specific, young Clebadee?" Darlo asked.

The young Terrian was shaking. It had hardly ever been his place to speak with the elders.

"They appeared out of nowhere, roaring in a blue box. They have smooth, white skin and strange clothing! I saw them! At the stream!"

There was silence in the chamber for a moment, then all the other Terrians present slowly began to murmur to each other.

Darlo took one glance at them and said loudly, "Clebadee, you young fool, why do you waste my time with these stories? Did you not learn your lesson the last time? Were the chores I assigned you not punishment enough?"

Clebadee was stunned. "Elder Darlo - I do not know what you mean-"

Darlo turned to Zilin, and spoke even more loudly to cover up Clebadee. "This one is a prankster wanting attention. Why, just yesterday he told me the water at the stream was flowing uphill! The day before that, he told me the clouds chased him around the fields, and then picked him up and flew him through the sky!" He grabbed Clebadee by the ear. "Will you accompany me, Zilin, as we deal with this troublemaker together?"

Zilin nodded his assent, and followed Darlo out of the central chamber as he dragged a protesting Clebadee. The others had turned away again in disinterest.

Once in the hallway outside, Darlo released Clebadee.

"Elder Darlo! Surely you have me confused with someone else, for I never-"

"Quiet, you fool!" Darlo snapped. "The entire tribe is terrified, ready to self-destruct, because we are all afraid the disease of Dreaming will find its way here! And what do you do? You barge in yelling about Gods falling from the sky! If I had not discredited your story on the spot, rumors would have been flying instantly, and then everyone would be telling each other, 'Clebadee has the disease!'"

Darlo thumped him on the chest. "I probably just saved your life, boy."

Clebadee was looking down, ashamed. "You are correct, Elder Darlo. I should not have panicked. I should have come to one of the elders in private with the news of what I saw. I could have caused a panic among the rest of the tribe."

"Yes, you could have," Zilin spoke up. "But you are young, so let it be a lesson to you. Discretion can be a good thing. Now, please tell us exactly what you saw."

"Ahem," came a voice behind them. They turned.

"I'm rather afraid that what he saw was me and my companions," the Doctor said, and smiled.

Behind him were Ian, Barbara and Susan, who gave an impetuous grin and waved.

* * *

After 24 years of cryogenic suspension, Dr. Vasquez painfully opened his eyes. His bones ached. It felt too God-awful to be a dream.

Even though his synapses were still reconnecting, all his basic knowledge and memories were at his command, and he knew instantly that something was grievously wrong.

As medical officer, he should have been the first out of cold sleep. This meant that the curly-haired face smiling down at him absolutely should _not_ have been there.

Oh, great, he thought to himself. Our ship's been invaded.

"Good morning!" the man said in a voice so loud as to make him wince. "You're _a_ doctor, I'm _the_ Doctor! Time to rise and shine! Can't lay idling about all day, you have over a thousand people counting on you to shake them awake! I'd say you have a busy day- wouldn't you say he has a busy day ahead of him, K-9?"

"Affirmative."

"Ha haa!" he looked back at the man on the bed.

Vasquez just groaned. He was wrong. Definitely a dream. Time to go back to beddy-bye...

"Alpha rate falling," K-9 announced.

"I can see that, K-9, I can see that," the Doctor said. "Now look here, Vasquez - I know it's a bit of a drag to wake up after a quarter of a century, and you're no Sleeping Beauty, I'm no Prince Charming, this isn't a castle, I'm not going to kiss you, and there'll be no happy ending unless you fight your way to consciousness like the responsible physician that you are and _get up!"_

Vasquez groaned and sat up, anger building within him. The Doctor grinned as he watched him stagger to a sitting position on the side of the cot.

"Alpha rising," K-9 announced.

The Doctor looked down. "Thank you, K-9, I had noticed."

"Master - gratitude not necessary."

"I was being sarcastic."

"Affirmative. So was I."

"Who..." Vasquez moaned softly. "Get...the hell...off our ship." His voice was barely a whisper.

The Doctor's face fell into mock sadness. "Aww, now that's no way to treat the people who probably saved you from an eternity of nothing."

"What's," he slurred, "what's going on?"

"Well, that's a very general question. Somewhere the sun is shining, space is still a vacuum, the Sontarans and the Rutans are still slugging it out in an intergalactic war, the Mars Warriors won the last World Series, the Earth's stock market is doing reasonably well, I'm the Doctor, that's K-9, we're on the Eden Project colony ship, in the G8 system, you're off course, three months late, and you have a saboteur on board." He took out a bag of candy. "Here - have a jelly baby."

* * *

Ian was pushed into the room so violently he fell.

He immediately sprang back up and caught both Barbara and Susan in turn as they were shoved into the room. As they were standing in front of him, however, he could do nothing for the Doctor, who was shoved into the room more harshly than all the rest.

But the Doctor quickstepped forward to keep his balance, then turned. "I'll thank you not to treat us in this outrageous manner!" he barked, his cane virtually hammering the floor of the cave.

"Silence!" Darlo commanded from the doorway. Then the elder turned to two other Terrians, each of whom held vicious-looking spears.

"Guard them. Use whatever force you have to, and never - _ever_ \- speak of their existence to anyone else. They are to be kept secret, while the elders decide their fate."

The two Terrians nodded silently. With a final glare at the prisoners, Darlo left.

"How do we always get into these messes?" Susan asked glumly.

"That's a very good question," Barbara answered pointedly.

She was glaring at the Doctor.


	5. Chapter 3

"We weren't _that_ far off course!"

Alonzo couldn't stop chuckling. "I still win, Sheila! I wasn't even off course by an inch, and I have witnesses! I expect some money to hit my palm within 48 hours!"

Danziger looked at Alonzo in wonder, and shook his head. "You made a bet with the colony ship pilots, too? Don't you have any shame, man?"

"None at all!" He turned his wide grin back to the man and the woman on the video screen. "Where'd you end up, anyway?"

Sheila smiled, biting her tongue, and punched up a readout. But it was Tom who answered.

"We entered the system at the right distance from the sun - but on the wrong side," he said. "We're in the same orbit as planet G889, but the sun is almost entirely between you and us."

Devon turned to Danziger. "That must be why we never saw them in the night sky, even with Zero's telescopic sight." He nodded.

"Well, hurry and get over here!" Alonzo said. "We've been lonely for too long, and we've got a lot of stories to tell!"

"I hope you have a story to explain who the strange guy with the scarf is," Sheila said.

Alonzo nodded, serious again. "We do. If he's who we think he is, you can trust him with your life. You have my word."

"Good enough for me," she said.

"Is he there with you?" Danziger asked.

"No, but he was earlier," Tom said. "He helped us navigate the fastest route possible to meet you."

Sheila added, "Right now, he and the woman and their little doggie are helping Vasquez revive people, helping Hanson with maintenance and repairs, and helping out with any complications the Syndrome children are having. They seem to be exceptionally brilliant in just about every scientific and technological field in existence. It's very weird."

"Sheila, Tom," Devon leaned forward. "Do you have any idea why your scheduled revival did not take place?"

"Yeah." Sheila was grim. "According to the Doctor, somebody canceled our wake-up call, that's why. And whoever it was might still be on board."

* * *

"Well, that's the last of them," Vasquez told the Doctor, looking down at an empty cryo-sleep chamber. Romana joined them in the corridor, wiping her hands on a rag.

"Any casualties?" the Doctor asked.

"One," Romana replied. "The older sister of one of the Syndrome children died about 15 years ago. It was a coolant leak. She woke up and starved to death. She was only nine."

Vasquez sighed, and closed the cryo-sleep chamber with deliberate slowness.

The Doctor nodded, grimacing, and turned away. "One out of a thousand is actually quite good, Vasquez. But it doesn't make it any easier." He patted him on the shoulder.

Vasquez nodded. "I can tell you are a man who knows full well that death is a part of this universe, as much as anything else. I've had to deal with the Grim Reaper many times in my life, and I expect I'll have to deal with him a few more times before he comes for me. 'The Random Phantom,' I like to call him, and I guess he's just doing his job."

Sheila and another man joined them.

"Oh, Doctor," Vasquez said, "this is Alan Hanson, head of ops."

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, we've already met. Listen - did your work crews go over the airlocks like I asked?"

"Every inch," Hanson replied. "No one has boarded this ship or left it since we departed the stations 24 years ago. Of course... _you_ somehow boarded without using the airlocks, so I don't see that it really means anything."

"Oh, well, that's because I use machinery a bit more advanced than yours," the Doctor replied. "It is possible, I suppose, that someone else could have done the same, but I really rather doubt it. No, I still suspect there's a saboteur on board."

"But if that's true," Sheila protested, "whoever deactivated the ship's computer also condemned themselves to sleep forever! Now who would do that?"

"A fanatic," Romana said simply.

"Or someone who deactivated every sleep chamber except his or her own," the Doctor said. "Maybe the saboteur woke up on time, but nobody else did."

"But I just told you, Doctor," Hanson said. "No one has left this ship! And where would they go, anyway? And how?"

"Also," Vasquez said, "every single person on board has been accounted for. Everyone was asleep in their chambers until my team and I revived them."

"Then there must have been a stowaway," Romana said.

"The resonance scan we ran back on the stations would have picked up a stowaway," Hanson said.

"Resonance scans can be blocked," the Doctor pointed out.

Hanson opened his mouth, thought for a second, and said, "Yeah, good point."

"Doctor," Vasquez said, "it might help if you now described to us exactly what happened since you arrived."

"Sir." A young man, barely out of boyhood, ran up to them. "David's just completed the checks on all the passenger drop pods."

Hanson sighed. "If David's the one who checked the drop pods, we're _all_ in trouble. You know better than to let that fool inspect something important! Tell him to go check the bathrooms or something, it'll keep him out of the way. And get somebody else to check the drop pods. No, wait."

He thought for a moment, then turned to the others. "If there is a stowaway on board, we'd better search." He turned back to the young man. "Have everyone do a manual search of this entire ship from stem to stern. I'll re-check the drop pods myself." He stalked off.

"Well, Doctor," Vasquez reminded him.

Within a few minutes, the Doctor and Romana had told him everything they saw and did since arriving.

"And you saw nothing suspicious, or anything amiss?"

"Not until we reached the bridge and discovered the sabotage."

Vasquez sighed. "Well, there is something which may settle this once and for all. The ship's log should have a record of every cryo-sleep chamber opened during the voyage. If someone on this ship did wake up, for whatever reason, then it will be recorded."

"What?" The Doctor was astonished. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Because I was hoping there would be an easier way. We'll have to search through 24 years worth of records."

"Then I suggest we get started. Come on!"

They headed for the bridge and ran into Hanson, who quickly joined them. "Drop pods are secure, and most of the crew has started the search. What's up?" he asked Sheila.

"We're going to check the logs, see if the computer can tell us if anyone got out of their chamber during the voyage."

They reached the bridge. When the door slid open, Tom stood in the doorway, but made no effort to move aside. He didn't even seem to register their presence.

"Tom?" Sheila asked. "What's wrong?"

Slowly, Tom tipped forward and fell into the hallway. A large knife with an ornate handle was stuck in his back, buried to the hilt.

Romana covered her mouth in alarm. Sheila gasped in horror and stepped back. Dr. Vasquez dropped to his knees to help him, and the Doctor leaped over the body, darting into the room.

No one was there.

Vasquez slowly straightened up. "He's dead," he confirmed.

Hanson stared numbly at the corpse, then slowly activated his gear. "I need a stretcher crew at the bridge. On the double."

Shaking, Sheila stepped over Tom and onto the bridge. "What's going on?" she asked the Doctor, tears beginning to fall. "Who did this?"

"I don't know, but I- _DOWN!"_

He grabbed Sheila and dove for the door, but it was too late. The bomb he'd seen planted on the console exploded, hurling them both through the door in a blast of heat and light.

The Doctor flew into Romana, slamming her against the far bulkhead. She slumped to the floor, unconscious. Sheila hit Dr. Vasquez, who grunted and caught her as best he could, but stumbled back and hit the far wall also, grimacing in pain. Hanson turned away, shielding his face from the blast.

Coughing, he stepped forward to help the others. The Doctor was sitting up, looking at Romana. Vasquez was struggling to get out from underneath Sheila without harming her.

The side of a computer console was buried deep in her side.

Hanson shouted into his gear, "I need an emergency medical team to the bridge immediately! Multiple laceration wounds, shock, and possible concussions!"

Gently, he knelt down and eased Vasquez out from underneath Sheila. She was still alive, but losing blood fast. Her breathing was irregular. "She's been pierced through the lung!" Vasquez rasped, standing up. "She doesn't have long unless I get her in surgery now!"

* * *

Clebadee was soaring again. This time, it was night, but there were no stars. And he had no wings. It felt so beautiful, so free, so... _connected!_

The others appeared, as they always did.

"Come with us," they called. "Come be with us."

"Who are you?" he asked. He tried to use his mouth to ask the question. When he did, dirt poured in, and he realized that he was flying _under the ground!_

His side exploded in a flash of pain, and he slammed into the wall. He shook himself awake.

"There, you see?" A young Terrian was standing a little ways off. "He was dreaming! I found him in the passage, just like that!"

Clebadee looked up, his heart pounding in terror. He had been dreaming again! And he'd been caught! He didn't even remember slipping into the reverie.

He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that this, too, was just a part of the dream. But he knew it wasn't.

Elder Darlo stepped forward a little, still keeping his distance. He motioned for the young Terrian who had summoned him to run along. He did, and they were left alone in the passage.

"Well, young Clebadee?" Darlo finally asked. "How long has this been going on?"

Clebadee trembled. "Several moons. I- I was afraid. Please...please help me."

"You know the rules, Clebadee," Darlo said. "For the good of all, any Terrian afflicted with the disease must be cast out. The strangers must have brought it to you."

"I did not meet the strangers until today, Elder."

"Silence!" Darlo commanded. "You selfishly hid this from us, and we may now all be at risk because of _you!"_

He glanced up and down the passages. "We are too far from the cave exit to cast you out now. Others will see. I want you to go quietly, when everyone is sleeping, so that no one will see, and no one will panic. I shall have to put you with the strangers until then. You know the way. Walk ahead of me."

Feeling sick, the world whirling around him, Clebadee got up and sadly walked towards the chamber where the strange creatures were being kept.

* * *

"Tell me, Chesterton, what do you make of our captors?"

Ian sat down next to the Doctor. "Well, their skin is rough and brown. I would imagine that's for camouflage and protection. Their lower jaws protrude from their faces, pointing upwards - perhaps to help them dig into an animal for food, or to help them eat some oddly-shaped fruit. They don't seem to wear any clothes, and they live in caves. Yet, they speak a language and have some sort of organized hierarchy, from what little we heard. So, they're not primitive, just..."

"Yes?"

"Simple."

"Well put, Chesterton. Now, we need to communicate to them that we mean them no harm. How can this information help us?"

"Perhaps we can make fire for them," Susan suggested glumly.

"That's not very funny, young lady," the Doctor told her sternly.

Another of the brown-skinned race slowly stepped into the room. Without looking at them, it squatted on the floor just inside the doorway.

"Further than that," Darlo called. "I do not want you trying to escape, or giving the disease to the guards."

Clebadee looked up at him, then, haltingly, over at the others. He nervously slid along the wall a little ways.

"What is going to happen to us, hmm?" the Doctor called to Darlo.

The elder ignored him and left.

"Hmp," the Doctor said, and looked at their new cellmate. After a moment, he said gently, "We didn't get a chance to properly introduce ourselves at the stream."

Clebadee just stared at the floor.

"I'm sorry if we got you into any trouble," the Doctor continued. "You seem to have a very strict guardian."

Clebadee glanced up hesitantly. After a moment, he spoke. "You did not get me into trouble. I am being punished because I have the disease. I am to be cast out of the tribe tonight to prevent it spreading."

"Oh?" the Doctor asked. "Diseases need to be cured, not punished. What's the trouble? Can we help?"

Clebadee looked up at them fully for the first time. "Do you not know? How can the Gods not know of the disease?"

"Simple. We are not Gods, merely visitors to your home. We come from a far-off land, and we do not know anything about you."

Clebadee marveled. Was it true? he thought. Could there be other lands beyond his own which were so different?

Barbara stretched out her hand. "I'm Barbara," she smiled.

Clebadee looked at her hand, then at her.

"It's a way we have of greeting one another," she explained, turning her left hand around and clasping her hands together to demonstrate. "Barbara is what I am called. Do you have a name?"

The Terrian slowly reached out and clasped Barbara's hand in his own. His skin felt rough, yet warm.

"I am called Clebadee."

"Hello, Clebadee."

"I'm Susan!" Susan stepped forward. Full of bright energy, she seemed to sense another youngster, like herself.

"I'm Ian." Ian also shook his hand.

"And I'm called the Doctor," the Doctor said. "Perhaps you should tell us of this disease, hmm?"

Clebadee looked at all of them. "It started several years ago. It is called the disease of Dreaming. We do not know how it spreads. It causes Terrians to stop whatever they are doing and fall asleep, in the most curious position."

"Really?" the Doctor asked. "And then what?"

"I do not know what you mean."

"Well, do these - Terrians, you call yourselves? - stay in this dreamlike state forever?"

"No."

"Well, then, in what other way does it afflict your people?"

"None."

The four travelers looked at each other.

"Well, that's a very odd disease to raise such a fuss over," Ian laughed. "I mean, if that's all it does, then the most it will do is interfere in a day's work!"

Clebadee looked at Ian, then at the Doctor. "What does he say?"

"He means that this disease you speak of doesn't sound very serious," the Doctor said. "When you said you were going to be cast out, we thought you meant you had some disease which was deadly, or horrific. But you have described something which seems like nothing more than a mild nuisance! Does that not strike you as odd?"

Clebadee was silent for a moment. "I have never thought about it before," he said. "But you are right. It does seem very strange."

Darlo strode boldly into the chamber, followed by ten Terrians carrying spears. "Line up against the wall," he said. "You are to be executed immediately."

There was a moment of stunned silence. Then Ian said, "We've got nothing to lose. Fight for it!" He charged the nearest Terrian, who simply swung his spear and smacked him in the head. Ian dropped to the ground, stunned. It was over so quickly, no one else had done anything. The other Terrians advanced, forming a line. There was no escape through them.

"You, too, selfish traitor!" Darlo told Clebadee. "Line up with them! We cannot afford to waste any more time."

Using a rough cloth to shield his hands, so as not to catch the disease, another Terrian pushed Clebadee against the wall to join the Doctor and Susan. Barbara desperately helped Ian to his feet, and they were also pushed against the wall.

Darlo nodded. "Kill them!"

"No, wait!" the Doctor shouted, putting Susan behind him.

The Terrians drew back their spears and hurled them at the prisoners.

Susan screamed.

Five Terrians popped out of the ground, grabbed the captives, and sank back into the earth. The spears passed through the space they'd been standing in and struck the far wall.

Elder Darlo and the warriors jumped back in surprise and terror, looking at the suddenly empty room.


	6. Chapter 4

The Doctor and Hanson slowly picked their way through the bridge.

"Only the rear half of the room has taken any real damage," Hanson said, shining a lumalight around at the wreckage. "The forward half, with all the flight systems and life support, is mostly all right. I don't understand. If someone was trying to destroy the bridge, they did a pretty poor job of it."

"They weren't trying to destroy the bridge," the Doctor replied. "They did exactly what they wanted to do."

"What do you mean?"

"The saboteur knew that the log might be checked." The Doctor pointed at the center of the blast, where a computer console had been. "And I'll take 100 to one odds that the ship's log was contained in that computer."

Hanson nodded. "You're right. But why not just tamper with the logs, or wipe the entire memory electronically?"

"I don't know." The Doctor wiped his hands on his scarf, looking around the bridge. "Maybe they didn't have time. But this almost certainly proves my theory, that the saboteur got out of his or her cold sleep chamber sometime during the voyage."

"We should have realized that, you know," Hanson said bitterly. "It just occurred to me - earlier, you told us that you and Romana walked to the bridge when you first arrived. When you say 'walked,' you mean the gravity was on, don't you?"

"Yes. Why?"

Hanson pursed his lips. "Gravity is always turned off for the duration of the voyage to save power. It only comes back on when the crew is revived."

"That doesn't mean anything," the Doctor said. "Although I agree that the saboteur turned on the gravity in order to move about the ship more easily, a stowaway or a pirate would have done the same thing. That fact all by itself doesn't mean the saboteur was one of the crew - although I still think that's the case."

"All right. But what about Tom? Why was he murdered?"

"Well, he was the pilot," the Doctor said. "The bridge is his station. Maybe Tom was already here, or maybe he walked in and caught the saboteur in the act. Either way, the saboteur was in a hurry, and Tom had to be eliminated."

He looked at Hanson. "Let's see how Vasquez is doing, shall we?"

* * *

Vasquez thoughtfully studied the blood sample on his monitor, then glanced up at the Doctor and Hanson as they came in.

"Well?" the Doctor asked.

Vasquez looked through a window to where Sheila was lying in a bed, tubes strapped to her arm. "She'll live."

The Doctor peered through at her. "'She'll live.' Two simple words. She'll live because you did your job, and you did it well. Good work, Dr. Vasquez."

Vasquez smiled. Somehow, he felt that a compliment from someone like the Doctor was a compliment indeed.

"What about Romana?" the Doctor asked.

"Take a look." He motioned through another window. Romana was laid out in a bed, still unconscious. K-9 was waiting dutifully beside her.

Vasquez turned back to the display on his monitor. "I don't know what race the two of you are, Doctor, but this is unlike any blood sample I've ever seen. Romana has two hearts, an absolutely _amazing_ double-respiratory/cardiovascular system, with a more compact bone structure and muscle tissue, probably to better endure extreme temperatures and shocks to her system. Whatever species you are," Vasquez turned to him, "you're designed to take a lot of punishment."

"Well," the Doctor said, "we do live an awfully long time."

"Yes, well, I had no idea what chemicals are harmful or helpful to your species, so I didn't do anything to Romana. Maybe you know what to do?"

"Yes. Let her rest. She's probably instructing her body to heal even as we speak."

"Really? But she's unconscious."

"Well, if you want to talk to your own body, being unconscious is the easiest way to do it. I don't suppose you also took a sample of her DNA?"

"Of course. Standard procedure."

The Doctor coughed delicately and leaned in close. "I'm going to ask you to destroy it."

"What, Romana's DNA sample?"

"Yes. Reasons of racial privacy. Please don't ask me to explain."

The Doctor and Vasquez stared at each other for a second. Vasquez finally nodded. "Consider it done."

"Good." The Doctor stood up suddenly. "Thank you."

"Dr. Vasquez, how long until Sheila can return to duty?" Hanson asked.

Vasquez looked at him in surprise. "Duty? She won't even be able to stand for another week, much less pilot a ship anywhere."

Hanson looked between the two men in alarm. "Well, with Tom dead and Sheila injured - who's going to fly the ship?"

"Well, I have _some_ experience at piloting spaceships," the Doctor smiled.

"Doctor," Hanson said, "I think it takes _two_ people to pilot this vessel."

The Doctor's face fell. "Oh." He looked through the window. "Then I'd better check up on Romana."

The Doctor pushed open the door and knelt by Romana's bed. "Hello, K-9," he smiled. "Have you been behaving yourself?"  
"Affirmative."

"What have you been doing?" The Doctor leaned closer to the bed, examining Romana.

"Master - I have been helping the medical staff monitor the life signs of the Syndrome children."

"Good, good. Listen - I want you to keep a watch on the door. Don't let anyone come in. But don't _look_ like you're keeping a watch on the door."

"Master?"

"I need a few moments with Romana without being disturbed."

"Affirmative."

The Doctor gently held Romana's head in one hand, with his thumb on one temple and his middle finger on the other, and closed his eyes.

Hanson and Dr. Vasquez watched through the window.

"What do you think he's doing?" Hanson asked.

Dr. Vasquez didn't answer, but looked on thoughtfully.

The Doctor remained perfectly still, his face grave. After a few moments, he finally stirred, seeming to breathe more deeply. He took his hand away from Romana's brow. He sighed, and patted her very gently on the arm.

The Doctor looked at K-9, then leaned down and whispered, "Stay by her side. She's vulnerable like this, and if someone doesn't want to reach the planet, Romana may seem like an easy target."

"Affirmative, master. The mistress will not come to harm."

"Good boy." He patted him on the head, then stood up and rejoined Hanson and Dr. Vasquez.

"Well?" Vasquez asked.

"It will be some time before Romana's conscious," the Doctor said. "I was barely able to reach her mind at all. I don't think she's even aware we made contact. She was hit harder than we thought."

"So we have a long wait before dropping the colonists off," Hanson sighed.

The Doctor just stared between them at the far wall. He still appeared deeply troubled about something. Suddenly he said, "No. We need to get these colonists to G889 as quickly as possible. Hanson, I need you to do something for me - I want you to go back to the bridge and contact the advance colonists. I need to speak with them. I'm going to get some special medical equipment of my own and try to help Romana, then I'll join you there."

The Doctor was out of the room and striding purposefully down the hall before either of the men could reply.

* * *

It felt exactly like riding a roller coaster.

It was fun, frightening, and exhilarating all at the same time. Barbara felt like she wanted to shriek and throw her hands up over her head.

But she dared not open her mouth. She kept her body tightly squeezed up, trying to shut out the fear, feeling as if she might burst at any moment.

Then she was standing again, breathing air, looking around at yet another cavern. The Terrian who had been carrying her unwrapped his arms from around her chest and stepped back. Around her, Clebadee, Ian, Susan and the Doctor emerged from the ground. Each of them was also being held tightly by another Terrian.

Ian stretched out his arms and wobbled slightly, then shook his head and looked at his hands in wonder. The Doctor's eyes were wide, and he breathed out slowly. Barbara could tell he was trying not to look impressed, but she knew he was.

Susan was grinning from ear to ear. "Fabulous!" she cried.

Clebadee's eyes were closed and his mouth hanging open, as if he was in ecstasy.

Two of the new Terrians who had rescued them approached him, while many others were standing silently around them. They seemed to walk and move differently than the Terrians they'd just left. They walked slowly, and their heads slowly tilted from side to side.

"Beautiful," she heard Clebadee whisper. "So beautiful!"

The two Terrians made peculiar, soft gurgling sounds, but Barbara could not tell what they were saying, although it seemed as if they were talking to Clebadee.

This didn't make any sense. According to the Doctor, he shared a telepathic gift with all those who traveled with him, which insured that they would never have a problem with the language barrier.

The Doctor looked equally confused. "Can you understand them, Clebadee?" he asked.

Clebadee slowly opened his eyes and nodded. He somehow seemed a little older and wiser than he had been a few moments before - as if his horizons had suddenly expanded, and he could never go back to being a naive youth.

"Yes, Doctor," he said. "These are the ones I have been flying with. These are the Terrians who were calling to me in my dreams." He looked around him in wonder. "And they say that the Dreaming is not a disease at all, but one of the greatest steps forward that our entire race has ever taken!"

"Really?" The Doctor stepped forward inquisitively. "How did you understand their peculiar language?"

"I- I do not know," Clebadee said. "It is as if I can understand what they are trying to say. The meaning is not in the words or the sounds they make. Yet, somehow, I still understand them."

"Hmmm." The Doctor stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Astounding!" he spoke to himself. "A race that is beginning to communicate on an entirely empathic level, even in dreams, and has the ability to travel through the very earth itself. Oh, my dear Chesterton, do you know what this means?"

Ian just smiled and shook his head. "No, I don't."

In a burst of inspiration, Susan blurted out, "It means the planet is coming alive, doesn't it grandfather?"

"It certainly looks that way, child! Well done! Yes, indeed, it most certainly looks that way!" The Doctor grinned at their new hosts, then bowed solemnly. "If you can understand me, I thank you for saving our lives."

The Terrians nodded their heads. It seemed to Barbara that each and every move they made had the dignity and grace of a ballet dancer. They trilled and gurgled some more. Clebadee translated.

"They say that they really came for me. But they also sensed open minds, intelligence, friendliness, compassion and great wisdom in all four of you. They wanted to speak with you."

"Well, I should be very delighted to speak with them!" the Doctor replied.

With Clebadee translating, the four travelers learned from their rescuers about the situation on the planet.

It had all started several years ago, when some Terrians, apparently at random, began dreaming together. It was assumed to be a disease, although all the Terrians who were able to enter the Dreaming said it was a wonderful experience.

Most tribes, like Clebadee's, were frightened, and cast out or killed anyone who was caught dreaming. But some of the outcasts had formed their own tribes, and much had been learned. Embracing the change, they had experienced heightened sensations and feelings, and were able to communicate with each other through a shared rapport, or group mind. It was as if they all felt connected, and this connection was something they had been yearning for all their lives, even though they had never realized it.

Then they discovered they could actually travel through the earth, in much the same way that they could travel the web paths which stretched over the planet.

"Web paths?" Barbara asked.

"Yes," Clebadee answered. "Do you not know of them? They are paths to far-away places, through the webs the spiders make."

"Fascinating," the Doctor mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Translating further, Clebadee explained that they did not know what to make of the changes, or where these new powers were coming from. But they were certain it was not a disease.

"No one knows why the Dreaming forces itself on some Terrians, but not others," Clebadee explained. "Some believe that the changes happen to those who are already in touch with themselves and with the world around them, and that one day, _all_ Terrians will be of the Dreaming."

"I have no doubt of it," the Doctor replied.

"Do you know what is happening, Doctor?" Clebadee asked.

"Yes. Yes, I believe I do," he said. "I believe that every living thing on this planet, from the tiniest bacteria, to the flowers and the grass and the trees, to the birds in the sky, to the Terrian people themselves, are beginning to come together into one group consciousness. The natural interconnectedness of all life on this planet has reached a whole new level!"

"You mean - they'll all have a group mind?" Ian asked. "No individuality?" Somehow the thought did not seem as appealing to him as it did to the Doctor.

"No no no, my dear Chesterton, of course they will. Each being will continue to act as an individual. They will continue to have a sense of identity and self, if my theory is correct. However, they will _also_ have a sense of the whole around them - a sense of the bigger picture, if you will - and will be able to make decisions and act accordingly. It's fascinating! Absolutely fascinating!"

"And this life force will envelope the whole planet?" Barbara asked.

"Not just envelope it, Barbara. It _is_ the planet! From the magma core thousands of miles below us to the clouds in the upper atmosphere, a new life is beginning to evolve!"

"You mean...our world is alive, and we are a part of it?" Clebadee asked, not fully understanding the Doctor's strange words.

"Well, in a sense, that's always been the case," the Doctor said. "Only now it's alive in a whole new way - and consequently, so are you! This planet has become a single life, in and of itself! You and I, and everyone else here, are standing on a newborn world!"


	7. Chapter 5

"Hey, Alan!" Danziger said. "You guys broke contact a couple of hours ago. What's up?"

"A lot," Hanson said.

Bess leaned over and whispered, "Baines - who's he?"

"That's Alan Hanson, head of ops," Baines whispered back. "He's Danziger's opposite number on the colony ship."

"Oh," Bess nodded.

Every single member of Eden Advance, gathered in the central hut, listened in stunned silence as Hanson recounted the events of the previous two hours. Tom was dead, Sheila was in critical condition, Romana was unconscious, and half the bridge had been destroyed. There was no evidence of a stowaway or forced entry anywhere, and everyone on board had been in their cold sleep chambers. Yet, someone had evidently woken up sometime during the 24-year voyage and canceled the revival, then blown up the bridge and killed Tom in order to cover it up. And whoever it was was still on the loose.

Devon had her fist up to her mouth, her eyes wide, as she tried to take it all in.

"Mr. Hanson," she finally said. "We have got to get those people safely on this planet's surface as quickly as possible."

"How will that help?" Walman asked. "Getting the colonists down won't mean that we'll be safe if there's a maniac on the loose! He could just kill them - and us, for that matter - just as easily down here as he could up there!"

"Not really." A new voice joined the conversation. It was deep and sonorous. The members of Eden Advance turned back to the screen to find a man with a large nose and dark curls staring at them. "The lady who spoke first is right. We're much more vulnerable while we're up here in space, because a lot of things can go wrong. You must be Devon Adair."

"And...you must be the Doctor," Devon answered, staring at him curiously.

"Quite right. But there'll be time for autographs later. Right now I need to know if there's a pilot in the house."

They all looked around at each other, startled by such an odd question. Finally Alonzo stepped forward. "I'm a pilot. Why, do you want me to relay instructions to help you fly the colony ship?"

"Oh, better than that," the Doctor grinned. "I want _you_ to fly the colony ship! I'll see you in a moment." Then he was gone, the connection cut off.

They all looked at each other some more. "Well," Julia said. "He certainly acts like the Doctor...sort of."

"Yeah, sort of," Morgan said. "Look, it's a really big universe out there. There could be more than one whacko who calls himself 'the Doctor.' How do we know this is the same guy?"

With a groaning sound which grew louder in waves, a blue police telephone box with a whirling light on top quickly materialized in the middle of the room, making everyone jump back in alarm. The light shut off as the great engines heaved the box into existence with a resounding _thud._

Danziger said slowly, "I...think it's the same guy."

The door opened and out stepped the man they'd been talking to over the gear channel just a moment before. He was as big as Walman or Danziger, with dark, curly hair and a large nose. He wore a rust-colored overcoat, and draped around his shoulders and hanging down to his feet was the longest wool scarf any of them had ever seen, patterned in deep browns and reds.

"Hello, everyone, I do love to make an entrance. Hello, there," he smiled an infectious grin as he spotted Uly and True and held out a bag. "Have a jelly baby. Pass it around. You're the pilot, correct?"

This was asked of Alonzo, who was still trying to take in the Doctor's sudden appearance. Finally, Alonzo just laughed once, and said, "Yes, I am."

The Doctor leaned in close. "If you're the pilot, what are you still doing here?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, why didn't you take your ship back to Earth after dropping off these nice people?"

"We crashed," Devon answered. "Our ship was sabotaged, too, Doctor."

"Really," the Doctor said, not sounding the least bit surprised. "If you sabotage one ship, you sabotage the other. That's a standard rule for saboteurs, spies, and mean people in general. It even says so on page 424 of the Villains' Handbook. 'Chapter 8: How to Gimmick Spaceships.' Tell me - how was yours gimmicked?"

"Control boxes were fused together," Danziger spoke up. "So when the cargo pods were released-"

"They weren't really released," the Doctor finished. "You have my sympathy. It must have been a bumpy ride all the way down."

Danziger spoke softly. "It was."

The bag of candy was being passed around the room, each person picking out a few, fascinated by the unexpected treat. Walman and Cameron together were looking for purple ones. "Keep the bag," the Doctor told them, then turned to Alonzo. "Let's go."

"Well - wait!" Devon jumped up. "I'm coming too!"

"So am I," Julia stood up.

"Nononononono," the Doctor held up his hands, making shushing noises. "I'm only taking this young man - what's your name, by the way?"

"Alonzo."

"I'm only taking Alonzo. I need the rest of you to stay here."

Devon started to interrupt.

"It's going to be very dangerous!" the Doctor shouted. "I feel quite sure that the saboteur will strike again when it becomes known that we're approaching the planet, and quite frankly, I'm not sure everyone's going to survive this."

Eden Advance was quiet as those words sunk in.

"Come on," the Doctor told Alonzo.

"Doctor," Julia spoke up. "I'm a physician. I'm sure they could use my help up there."

The Doctor looked at her for a second, then motioned for her to hurry through the doors of the police box. He followed without a backward glance and shut the doors.

Inside, Alonzo and Julia found themselves in a room much smaller than they remembered. The Victorian decor they had experienced during their first trip in the TARDIS was nowhere to be seen. The brightly-lit console room had white walls, floor, and ceiling. Round indentations, each a foot in diameter, covered the walls in a neat pattern. Beside the door was a single chair and a hat stand.

As before, the controls were mounted on a six-sided console in the center of the room. But this console was made of metal instead of wood. It all looked futuristic and alien, rather than nice and cozy.

Alonzo and Julia looked around in wonder. "What-" Alonzo started to ask, then remembered he wasn't supposed to tell the Doctor he'd been in the TARDIS before. He would have to wait before finding out why the console room looked different.

The Doctor saw his reaction, but misinterpreted it. "Yes, it's bigger on the inside than on the outside. Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

He flicked a switch and was surprised when nothing happened. Then he slammed his fist down on the console, and the central column started to rise and fall.

He gave a broad grin to Alonzo and Julia, who just looked worried.

* * *

After watching the TARDIS fade away, the members of Eden Advance took collective breaths. Several people got up and poured themselves a mug of water or tea, but no one left.

Baines was looking at the cup in his hand. "Well," he said. "They're here."

The others all nodded.

"After two years," Magus said, a smile on her face. "It...seems so unreal."

"There were many times when it seemed we wouldn't make it," Devon said. "But by sticking together, we always managed to pull through. And here we are."

There was silence for a moment, and no one wanted to look at each other. Finally, Walman said, "Well...I suppose...some of us will be saying good-bye soon."

Several of the ops crew looked at each other apprehensively. Walman had voiced what they were all thinking.

"You know," Devon said, "I've come to regard each and every one of you as close family, and for anyone who was planning to return to the stations...you know you're more than welcome to stay. In fact, I uh...don't want you to go."

For a moment, no one spoke. Finally, Baines asked, "John, are you staying?"

"I don't know," he said, and looked down at Devon. He smiled briefly, and she smiled back hopefully. "Something tells me I don't have to answer that just yet."

"But that is the question facing all of us on the ops crew," Cameron said.

"I have to admit," Denner spoke up, "I've thought about it a lot lately. But I just don't know."

"I don't know, either," Mazatl said. "But there's one thing I do know." He raised his mug.

"Eben should be here."

They all nodded and raised their mugs in agreement.

"To Eben," they said.

* * *

Barbara and Ian were sitting outside looking up at the stars. Barbara's head was on Ian's shoulder, and he had his arm around her.

"Ian," Barbara said, "what do you suppose life will be like when we get back?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we've been through so much, haven't we? I mean, there won't be anyone else we can talk to about everything we've seen and done."

Ian was silent.

"I keep thinking about little things in our daily lives," Barbara continued, almost embarrassed. "I'll never be able to call the exterminators out to my flat without hearing the Daleks in my head. 'Exterminate' seemed to be their favorite word. And I _know_ I'll never be able to teach my class about Marco Polo without saying that I met him, or thinking about Ping Cho." Her voice faded away as she quietly thought about other times, other places, other people.

"We've seen a lot of death, haven't we, Ian?"

Ian sighed. "Yes. Yes, I suppose we have. But, as strange as it may seem...I think the more death we see, the more alive we really are. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

"I think so," Barbara said. "Now I know what's out there. Now I know what the universe is made of, how tiny a slice of life I was living before. I never would have known about the Thals' struggle for survival, and become a part of what they were going through. I never would have known of the Sensorites, or the fear they had of mankind because of how we poisoned their planet. I never would have met Terrians. I would have lived the rest of my life, going back and forth from home to the school, and never known any of those other people existed. And...and now, I don't think I would have missed any of it for the world."

Ian smiled. "Neither would I," he said.

Barbara smiled also, perfectly relaxed, and felt the breeze and the warm night wrap around her, soothe her, as she looked up at the bright stars sparkling across the alien sky. "It feels so good to finally say it, instead of deny it. Because it's true. I'm glad the Doctor whisked us away, Ian."

"So am I, Barbara," Ian patted her on the arm. "So am I."

"Ahem," a voice delicately said behind them. They stood up and turned to find the Doctor standing there. How long he'd been there, they couldn't say.

He couldn't seem to meet their gaze, however.

"I'm sorry to disturb your reverie," he said, examining his cane and the ground with minute detail as he approached them. "But I'm afraid I have some disturbing news for you."

"Oh? And what's that, Doctor?" Ian asked.

"My earlier assumption that we are in the future is wrong, I'm afraid. It seems we have, in fact, gone very far back in the past."

"Well, under the circumstances, I don't think it matters much," Ian said. "But how do you know?"

"Well, I was taking a look at the night sky, in much the same way the two of you were." He swung his cane to point upwards. "Take a look at that constellation, young Chesterton."

Ian looked up at the area of the sky the Doctor was pointing at. "What about it?"

"Do you recognize it?"

"No. Should I?"

The Doctor tutted gently. "You led me to believe that you are a science teacher of some sort, and you don't recognize that particular star pattern?"

"Doctor, I come from 1963 London," Ian smiled. "I teach a general science course to Earth children. We only spend a week on astronomy, and during that time I'm lucky if I can get half of them to understand the basics. We don't cover what the stars look like from _other_ planets."

"Hmp," the Doctor replied, but didn't press the point. "Well, then, I'll tell you. That, my dear boy, is the constellation Ursa Major."

"What, the Big Dipper?" Ian was astonished. "You can't be serious. It looks nothing like it!"  
"I spent some time in the libraries of your world in the time that I was there," the Doctor said. "One of the texts I researched was a fascinating look at the movement of the stars, as seen from the Earth, over the course of time."

"But Doctor," Barbara interrupted, "the constellations Ian and I are used to seeing in the night sky only look that way from the Earth. From any other planet, the patterns they make are completely different!"

"Not _completely_ different, my dear Barbara!" the Doctor smiled smugly.

"He's right," Ian said. "Most stars are so far away from the Earth, that if you were to travel a few light years in any direction from Earth, the constellations would still be the same. You would have to travel a _great_ distance away in order for the patterns they make to change considerably."

"Quite so, quite so," the Doctor agreed. "And that -" he pointed at the sky again "- is almost exactly what the constellation Ursa Major looks like from the night sky of Earth around 300,000 years before you were born."

"But- but that means we're close to Earth!" Ian exclaimed.

"Exactly," the Doctor smiled. "Within about 25 light years, I should say."

"Does this help us any?" Barbara asked.

"Yes. Yes, I think so. If I can tell which of these stars we see is the one which the Earth orbits, I may be able to project a course."

"So that means our next stop is...home," Barbara said. Somehow, she didn't seem excited.

The Doctor gave her a peculiar look, as if he understood exactly what she felt. "Yes. The next stop is 20th-century Earth. That is...if you still want to go."

Barbara and Ian looked at each other in amazement and smiled, both of them at a loss for words. Finally Barbara said, "Well, why don't we see if you can really get us there, Doctor. Then we'll see what happens."

The Doctor grasped the lapels of his coat in outrage. "What do you mean, young lady, 'Why don't we see?' I'll have you know-"

His voice was drowned out by the laughter of the two school teachers.

He shook his head and gave in, allowing them their moment of mirth. Clebadee and Susan came out of the cave entrance to join them, Susan looking back and forth, wanting to be let in on the joke.

"Are you in pain?" Clebadee asked.

"No, we're perfectly all right," the Doctor asked. "Why?"

"You were screaming very loudly," the young Terrian said, looking at Ian and Barbara. "It sounded as if you were in pain."

"Oh, we're just laughing," Ian said. He and Barbara hadn't quite stopped giggling yet.

"Laughing?" Clebadee asked.

"Yes," the Doctor replied, a mischievous look in his eyes. "It's something humans do far too rarely, and when they do, it's at the most inappropriate times." He looked meaningfully at Ian and Barbara. "But I assure you, there is nothing wrong with them. Nothing beyond the ordinary, anyway. I shall explain later. What has your tribe decided?"

"We have decided to take the information you have given us, Doctor, and formally contact every other tribe within the area. We want to explain to them what is going on, and what the Dreaming is all about."

"Excellent, excellent," the Doctor said. "Very commendable. It won't be easy, you know. But it will be well worth the effort."

"We should like you to help us."

The four travelers looked at each other. "Well..." the Doctor said. "We were planning on going back to our traveling craft and leaving. We were lost, you see, and now that we know where we are, we would like to be on our way." His words were for Clebadee, but he casually eyed Ian and Barbara, as if he knew what they were going to say.

"But...you have helped us so much in the short time you have been here," Clebadee said. "Will you not help us for a while longer?"

"We would _love_ to stay and help you," Barbara said.

No one noticed that the Doctor seemed quite pleased with her answer.

"It's just that one of the tribes you will no doubt be contacting will be the one which wanted to kill us," Barbara continued. "And I really don't want to meet them again."

"Your safety will be assured," Clebadee answered. "Any meeting which takes place will be very public and open. We hope there will be many Terrians from many tribes there. If any try to harm us, we can go where they cannot follow - into the ground."

"Oh, grandfather, let's stay just a while longer!" Susan said. "It's really lovely here! And Clebadee has promised to take me flying through the ground again!"

"Well," the Doctor smiled. "If everyone's agreed, then I don't see why not!"

* * *

Alonzo made his way to B ward, on the starboard side of the ship. He found Julia lifting a six-year-old boy from an examination bed and setting him on the floor. "There we go!" she smiled brightly. "You're all clear!"

"Thank you," a woman said, taking him by the hand. "Come on, Alex."

Julia tugged on the woman's sleeve. "Come see me later, okay?" she whispered.

The woman seemed to panic. She said to the boy, "Alex, wait for mommy outside, okay?"

The boy squeezed past Alonzo as he held the door open for him.

The woman looked briefly at Alonzo standing in the doorway, then turned to Julia. "Why?" she asked. "Is something wrong with Alex that you didn't want to say in front of him?"

Julia was surprised for a second, then realized how the woman had misunderstood her. "No, no! It's nothing like that! It's just that, well," she glanced at Alonzo, who held up his hand and started to leave. But before he could, Julia said, "I don't work for the Council any more, Sarah. And I know you don't, either."

Alonzo stared at the two women. He saw that Sarah was just as stunned as he was.

"How- how did you...?" Sarah tried to ask.

"Blalock played both of us against each other," Julia said. "He didn't tell either of us the truth, and we were both considered expendable." Julia squeezed her arm. "I just wanted you to know that if you need a friend, if you need someone to talk to, I'll understand just about anything."

"Wha-, well," Sarah didn't know what to say for a moment. "Th- thank you, Dr. Heller. But, my name is Angela Williams, now. Never Sarah."

"Of course," Julia said. "I've been awake for two years longer than you have, and I just forgot."

Angela just smiled and nodded awkwardly, then left.

Alonzo walked into the room. "What was _that_ all about?" he asked.

"Ex-Council stuff," Julia sighed. "Come here. I need a hug."

Alonzo stepped forward and put his arms around her.

"Angela isn't Alex's natural mother," Julia explained, relaxing in his arms. "She was a Council spy sent by Blalock, just like me. And just like me, she didn't like what she was doing any more. And now she's his mother for real."

They pulled away from each other. "Boy, you spies just seem to pop up everywhere."

Julia smiled, and playfully punched him in the stomach. "What are you doing here, anyway? Aren't we going to run into something if you're not on the bridge?"

"No, I've done all I can for now, and we'll be reaching the planet in a few hours. That's why I came looking for you."

"Are you all right? You seem kind of glum." Julia started putting her instruments away.

"No, I'm not all right. It's spooky on that bridge."

Julia stopped what she was doing and looked at him.

"There's this wreckage everywhere," Alonzo explained. "Machinery burnt black. And I can't help but remember that that's where Tom died, less than six hours ago. Murdered.

"And then I sat down in the pilot's seat, and it all came back to me. The last time I was piloting a vessel, I couldn't hold her. Do you know what it's like to feel 500,000 tons of machinery slide completely out of your control?" He shook his head. "The nightmare came back to me, Julia. Suddenly, I was on the _Roanoke,_ and the cargo pods wouldn't release, and people were screaming, and the alarm was going off, and O'Neill was yelling at me to abort. And I had to leave. I had to run away-"

"It wasn't your fault!" Julia interrupted him. "You know that perfectly well, Alonzo. Even if you were the best pilot in the universe, which you may well be, you couldn't have kept the advance ship from crashing. None of us could have."

"It doesn't matter!" Alonzo snapped.

"I know," she said, and took his hands, then reached up and stroked his hair. "I know."

"I'm still haunted by the crash, Julia," he said.

This time, it was Julia's turn to hold Alonzo.


	8. Chapter 6

The Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara stood with Clebadee on a hilltop overlooking the field.

Terrians from all over the land were assembled below them. Beyond the fact that Terrians connected to the Dreaming were on one side of the field, and Terrians who weren't were on the other, they did not appear to meet in anything resembling an orderly fashion. They just kind of milled about, muttering, gurgling, and trilling to one another.

"Can you tell what's happening?" Susan asked.

"Yes," Clebadee answered. "I am very surprised. When presented to them in a formal way, with an explanation, the others are becoming very interested in the idea of the Dreaming."

"Even Darlo?" Ian asked.

"Especially him," Clebadee answered.

"Is he here?" Barbara asked.

"Yes. Do you not see? He is there." Clebadee pointed down at the field. He could have been pointing at any one of about 20 Terrians, most of whom still looked alike to the four travelers. Barbara decided not to ask him to be more specific.

Instead, she asked, "Why would someone like Darlo accept this so easily now? He wanted to kill all of us, you know."

The Doctor explained, "Some things are better accepted with overwhelming numbers. If only one Terrian instead of 100 were down there trying to convince the others, the result would probably be completely different."

"Also, Darlo is not completely bad," Clebadee pointed out. "He really does mean well, and is truly interested in the well-being of his tribe, and of all Terrians."

"Yes, it's just his methods which need improving," the Doctor said, without taking his eyes off the activity below.

"There is a reason he became an elder, Doctor," Clebadee said.

"Actually, my dear boy, there was probably _more_ than one reason he became an elder," the Doctor said mysteriously.

Clebadee was about to ask what the Doctor meant by this when Ian asked, "Are they going to call on us?"

"It does not seem so," Clebadee answered. "We had thought that maybe your testimony would be crucial. But as it turns out, the feeling I have about the proceedings below is that hearing non-Terrians speak about a Terrian matter would actually be harmful, rather than helpful."

"Quite right, quite right," the Doctor said. "I completely agree."

They looked on as, one by one, the Terrians approached and mingled with each other. Slowly, the non-dreaming Terrians were shown how to enter the Dreaming. Some, it turned out, had already done so, and like Clebadee, had simply never told anyone. The strength of the emotion in the field below was such that the four travelers could feel the relief of those who had thought of themselves as rejects, or unclean. Some Terrians took to it quickly, and almost immediately sank into the earth in a communion with the planet.

The Doctor and Ian smiled at each other.

"Well, Doctor," Ian said, "it looks like everything will turn out all right."

* * *

"Well, Doctor," Dr. Vasquez said, "it looks like everything will turn out all right."

"It's beginning to look that way, isn't it?" the Doctor replied. "How are you feeling?"

"As right as rain," Romana replied. "Remind me to step aside and let you sail on past the next time you're caught in an explosion."

"All right - step aside and let me sail on past the next time I'm caught in an explosion. K-9, make a note of that."

"Affirmative. Memorandum about stepping aside and explosions recorded."

Hanson shook his head. "You three are a regular comedy routine, you know that?"

"You think so?" the Doctor said. "Well, I'm afraid what comes next isn't going to be very funny at all. Is everyone here?"

They were in the physician's mess hall, much smaller than the main cafeteria. He looked around the table at Romana, Dr. Vasquez, Hanson, Julia and Alonzo. The Doctor stood at the head of the table, and K-9 waited by the door.

"As you all know," the Doctor said, "there is a murderer and saboteur on board this ship. A murderer who doesn't seem able to exist, because no one boarded this ship, no one left it, there was no stowaway, and everyone was still in their cryo-sleep chambers upon revival.

"However, it was Mr. Hanson who gave me the clue which put me on the right track, and I didn't spot it at the time: gravity. When Romana and I arrived, this vessel's gravity was on, but as Mr. Hanson said, it should not have been."

"But Doctor," Hanson said, "you said yourself that the gravity being on didn't matter. That fact alone doesn't necessarily point you in any given direction."

"Ah, but it did - but in a very indirect way. When I actually thought about the gravity being on, I began thinking about the reasoning behind the saboteur's actions. I put myself in his shoes, so to speak. And what I realized was that anyone who got out of a cold sleep chamber could just as easily get back in."

"Why would anyone do that?" Dr. Vasquez asked.

"Because Romana and I had just arrived and we began waking up the crew," the Doctor answered.

Everyone in the room was silent.

"You see, the saboteur hacked into the computer before departure and changed his own personal wake-up time to a point sometime _during_ the 24-year voyage. He got out of his chamber, canceled the revival for everyone on board except himself, then got back in to sleep the rest of the way.

"Then, when this ship reached the G8 system, only one person woke up. That person did not leave the ship - he just stayed here. The reason he stayed here was because _the ship was off course and he had nowhere to go!_

"Our saboteur evidently can't pilot a large cargo vessel. Imagine his disappointment when he climbed out of his cold sleep chamber, only to discover that planet G889 was nowhere in sight. He couldn't fly the ship, but neither could he bring Sheila or Tom out of cold sleep to make a course correction without having to answer a lot of awkward questions. So he just hung about, doing a lot of nothing. Cooling his heels. Perhaps waiting for his contact to come and rescue him.

"Then Romana and I arrived on board, and suddenly the saboteur was not alone. He probably monitored our presence, but was afraid to approach us, and when we started reviving the crew, he had no choice but to climb back into his capsule and pretend he'd been asleep just like everyone else. Otherwise, the medical team would have wondered why he was already awake, or why his capsule was empty.

"Later, when he knew that the sabotage had been discovered, he had to destroy the computer which kept the ship's log."

"But why use explosives?" Vasquez asked.

"Time. The saboteur knew that he had only minutes to act, so he was pretty crude. He swiped an emergency charge from the storage area - K-9 and I checked, there are several missing. Then he went to the bridge, killed Tom, blew up the computer, and rejoined his companions.

"He knew he had to act quickly because he'd heard me, Dr. Vasquez, Sheila and Romana discussing ways to find the saboteur, and he knew we would turn our attention to the ship's log. So he made an excuse to leave us for a few minutes, planted the bomb on the bridge, then stood conveniently away from the door when it exploded, didn't you, Hanson?"

Hanson looked up sharply as the implications of the Doctor's words sunk in.

"What are you saying?" he asked. "Are you saying that _I'm_ the saboteur? That _I_ killed Tom?"

"No," the Doctor replied. _"You_ said it. It was your own slip-up, when we were on the bridge examining the damage. You mentioned the fact that I'd told the rest of you that Romana and I walked to the bridge, and you deduced from that statement that the gravity was turned on.

"But you didn't hear me make that statement. You weren't there. You had excused yourself for a few minutes, ostensibly to check the drop pods. The only way you could have known that the gravity was already on when Romana and I arrived is if you were already awake and running around the ship when we did."

The room was silent. Hanson and the Doctor stared hard at each other.

Finally, Hanson spoke. "You're right, Doctor. I don't know how to pilot a large cargo vessel. But my contact here in the G8 system told me that this ship is orbiting the sun more slowly than the planet, so all I had to do was wait about nine months for G889 to catch up with us, and then I could join him."

"Was your contact's name 'Reilly?'" Julia asked.

Hanson looked at her sharply. "What would you know about it?"

"We've met him," Alonzo said simply.

"Well you'll never meet him again. Any of you." Hanson whipped out a gun and aimed it at the Doctor.

Immediately, K-9 extended his own gun to stun Hanson. But before he could fire, Dr. Vasquez launched himself at Hanson, blocking K-9's view.

There was a noise like a thunderclap, and the ship suddenly lurched hard to starboard. The room seemed to spin around as if a giant had kicked it. Everyone yelled as they were thrown against one wall.

The ship was spinning around violently. The centrifugal force kept everyone pinned for a few moments against the wall in a tangled heap. K-9 was upside-down, his wheels spinning.

As everyone slowly adjusted and tried to sort out what was going on, Hanson staggered to his feet, the gun still in his hand. The Doctor tried to grab his feet, but Hanson was out the door and careening madly down the tilting hallway.

"What's going on?" Vasquez yelled. He was craning his neck around, trying to see if anyone had been shot. The ship's alarms were blaring. From all over the vessel they could hear a thousand people screaming.

"There must be a hole in one of the fuel tanks!" the Doctor yelled. "It's causing the ship to accelerate out of control!"

As Alonzo regained his balance, he staggered to a window and saw that the Doctor was right. A finger of flame was streaming out of the starboard tank, close to the stern. It was as if another rocket had been added to the side of the ship, and it was causing it to spin around and around.

Planet G889 swept into view and out again, filling the window as it went past.

"It's happening again!" he yelled, slamming his fist into the wall. "We're crashing again! And there's nothing I can do!"

"We've got to get everyone to the escape pods!" Julia yelled.

"No!" Alonzo yelled back. "There's no time! There's too many people on board! We've got to jettison that tank and stop the spin!"

"He's right!" the Doctor yelled. "Get everyone into the hospital wards and strap them in!" He turned to Alonzo. "You fly - I'll jettison!"

"You can't be serious!" Alonzo yelled back.

"I can take the temperature! You can't! Just go!"

They staggered out into the hallway. Romana and Julia ran for the hospital area, Alonzo headed for the bridge, and the Doctor headed aft. Dr. Vasquez activated his gear, pressed a button, and began speaking. His voice came over the PA system for everyone to hear.

"This is Dr. Vasquez. Please remain calm. I need everyone to remain calm and head for the hospital areas. No questions, people - just do it!"

K-9 finally righted himself. "Master," he said simply, rolling out into the hallway.

Vasquez' message did more to help the panic than anything else. Some people had already filled several escape pods, and they began falling towards the planet's surface. But there were not enough pods to hold everyone.

Alonzo staggered onto the bridge, fighting a g-force which was increasing. He reached the pilot's seat and strapped himself in, then shut down both engines. It would only help a little. The flaming hole in the side of the fuel tank was like a runaway third engine which he couldn't turn off.

He struggled with the controls, estimating that the ship would hit the upper atmosphere in about five minutes.

"Come on, Doctor!" he grunted. "Come on!"

* * *

Julia, Romana and Dr. Vasquez quickly and efficiently organized the rest of the medical staff, and together they started herding everyone into the two hospital wards on either side of the ship. Julia noted that Angela had also kept her head and was efficiently telling people where to go with authority, helping them to stay calm.

Children were being strapped into whatever stationary cots were available. Shelves toppled. The lab windows shattered and glass flew across the room. Some people were dragging in others who had been knocked unconscious.

Julia stood in the doorway to B ward, frantically waving in the last few people still out in the corridor as K-9 ushered them along. Everyone was inside except for a little girl and an orderly when the outer bulkhead could no longer take the strain and a hole ripped opened into space.

The air suddenly blew through the corridor at gale force. The orderly was taken off his feet, and with a scream he was gone.

K-9, traveling beside the girl, immediately lowered the caterpillar track inside his casing and dug in as hard as he could. He began sliding sideways towards the opening, the little girl screaming and hanging onto him for all she was worth.

Julia grabbed the door frame and reached for the girl, but underestimated the force of the wind. She lost her grip, and with a yell, she, too was whisked away.

K-9's laser flashed twice, severing an overhead pipe. It was immediately sucked towards the hole and hit the bulkhead on either side, too long to fit through lengthwise. Julia grabbed it as she was sucked out into space and hung on for dear life.

* * *

The aft engineering section was already up to about 150 degrees Celsius, and fires had broken out on one side of the room. The Doctor ignored the heat as he ran to the machinery at the far end, trying to figure out which button did what before he even got there.

He started initiating the sequence which would jettison the fuel tank when the console exploded in his face. The fire spread around the whole room. Flinching, looking around for a solution, the Doctor realized he would have to enter the service ducts and jettison the fuel tank manually.

He put his sonic screwdriver in his mouth and entered the service duct, where the heat was an incredible 400 degrees. His hands blistered immediately. Wrapping them in his scarf, he crawled forward.

* * *

Romana frantically ran through the lab to the supply closet. She found a long roll of electrical cable and ran back, already tying it around her waist. Angela and Dr. Vasquez were there to meet her. "We won't let you go!" Angela yelled.

With the two of them holding on, Romana crawled out into the hallway. She reached the little girl in a second and held on as the others pulled her back in. K-9 was forced to stay where he was, as any attempt to turn would cause him to lose his traction.

Vasquez untied the cable and threw it to Julia. She grabbed it and wrapped it around her wrists, just as the hole ripped open even further and the pipe she was holding on to flew out into space.

They hauled her in. As Julia passed K-9, she closed her ankles tightly around his neck. K-9 let go of the floor and allowed himself to be dragged into B ward behind Julia.

As soon as they were in, they closed the door.

Outside, they heard the horrendous screech of metal tearing like paper.

"Everyone hang on!" Vasquez yelled.

Suddenly the g-force shifted, and for a moment everyone was weightless, and it was deathly silent.

"We've broken away!" Julia said. "The entire ward has broken away from the ship!"

* * *

Alonzo, struggling with the retros as best he could, opened his eyes in horror as he watched part of the vessel's starboard side, including B ward, drift past the cockpit window and plummet helplessly to the planet below.

Everyone inside was doomed.

 _"NO!"_ he slammed his hand on the control panel so hard he dented it, crying tears of frustration. He gritted his teeth and fought harder than ever. There was still the 500 people in A ward. He had to save them. He had to.

"Come on Doctor!" Alonzo called. "Where are you?"

Like an answer, the starboard fuel tank was suddenly gone.

Alonzo felt the change in force as the retros suddenly had more power, and the tank went spinning its crazy way off into the sky, the finger of flame still shooting from its side.

The Doctor crawled back along the service duct and tumbled out into the engineering room in a heap. The fire had partly snuffed itself out by using all the oxygen, but it was still raging across the center of the room. Wrapping his coat around himself, he leaped through it and was in the corridor, running forward to join Alonzo.

* * *

B ward was quickly dissolving into chaos as everyone gradually realized what was happening. They were no longer pitching around and trying to keep their balance. They were simply in free-fall.

Julia grabbed a bedpost as she floated next to it, staring at all the people around her, wondering if there was some way she could at least cushion somebody. But she knew it was madness. When the ward hit the planet's surface, it would be at several hundred miles an hour, and the heat from atmospheric friction would kill them all long before then, anyway.

"Daddy, I want to leave!" she heard one of the kids scream right next to her.

Leave.

Julia frantically reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the glass jar, nearly choking with relief when she saw it was still intact, its tiny occupants wriggling around inside.

 _"Out of my way!"_ she yelled, elbowing people aside as she floated across to the lab. She hooked her legs around an empty window frame, ignoring the shards of glass which cut into her legs, and frantically opened the jar and dumped the little spiders onto the frame.

"Spin!" she yelled. "Spin, goddamn you, _spin!"_

Dealing with the weightlessness as best they could, the panicking spiders did the only thing their instinct told them was safe.

They started to spin a web.

* * *

Alonzo took another look at the ground and knew he wasn't going to make it. He had managed to stop the spin and slow their descent, but unless he could get the nose of the ship up to make some sort of glide landing, it wouldn't do any good.

The Doctor joined him in the copilot's seat, strapping himself in.

"Take over the retro thrusters!" Alonzo yelled.

The Doctor complied. "What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I'm going to turn us 85 degrees to port! One thing I've learned while hiking across this planet is which way the wind blows! If I can get the wind underneath us, it may help us to level out! But I don't have much to work with, here!"

Alonzo struggled with the controls, even calling up the air jets used for maneuvering, trying to twist the ship around so that west was above their heads and north was to the right.

Slowly, the ship began to turn. As it passed through the upper atmosphere, the wind caught it, just like Alonzo hoped it would, and he felt the ship tilt just a little bit.

But it still wouldn't be enough.

* * *

The first sparks began to fly before the spiders had even completed their web.

"Romana - this will take us to safety!" Julia yelled. "It leads to a cave! Get people moving through it and out the opening!"

Romana had seen enough wonders in the universe that she didn't even question this. She just nodded, floated in front of the web, and disappeared.

Julia grabbed the nearest child and threw her at the web. "Hit the ground running and keep moving!" Then she grabbed another. "Hit the ground running and keep moving!"

Romana found herself in a cave, just as Julia had said. Turning around she saw the first child come through, staggering in surprise.

"Come on! This way!" Romana yelled. "There are others behind you!"

Slowly, people began to disappear from the falling deathtrap.

When it dawned on everyone that there was a way out, they started going through in groups at a time. Julia never stopped shoving people through.

In just over two minutes, almost 500 people had gone through the spider tunnel.

The temperature was becoming almost unbearable. Julia grabbed K-9 and sent him through, then turned around and realized that the only three people left were herself, Angela-

And Hanson.

Unable to make it to an escape pod on time, he had hidden among the crowds of people within the ward. Now he raised his gun and aimed at Julia.

Angela lashed out with her foot and kicked his hand, and the shot went wild. Julia and Angela tackled him, punching him and clawing him. Hanson threw Angela off. She flew across the room and hit the wall, then screamed as her back blistered from the heat.

But in the second that Hanson threw off Angela, Julia had an opening. She put Hanson in a head lock, flipped over backwards, and threw him at the web. In a flash, he was gone.

"Come on!" Julia yelled. She grabbed Angela's hand and kicked off the wall, her other hand outstretched. She plucked one of the three spiders from the web just before the whiteness enveloped them.

* * *

Alonzo wiped away his tears as he watched the part of the ship containing B ward catch fire, still five miles above the ground, and disintegrate in a rolling fireball of destruction across the stratosphere.

* * *

Angela and Julia were lying on the floor of the cave. Angela gasped, surprised at suddenly finding herself in a place that wasn't burning, falling or exploding. They looked up just in time to see Hanson pick himself up off the ground and pistol-whip Romana across the face.

Julia slipped the spider into her jacket pocket as she and Angela moved forward to get out of the way of the spider energy. Hanson spun to face them.

"Stop!" he yelled. His eyes darted around as he tried to figure out where he was, but he still kept them covered. He slowly backed away.

Julia, Angela, Romana and Hanson were the only ones in the cave, and Hanson was between them and the opening. Julia realized that Romana must have sent K-9 outside to help the others. They could really have used the robot right then.

Evidently, Romana thought so, too. As the Time Lady slowly got up, she said, "Oh, K-9, I wish you were here!"

Hanson narrowed his eyes at that remark. Keeping them covered with the gun, he immediately moved past the three women, putting them between himself and the opening, just as K-9 came rolling in. The robot's super-sensitive hearing had picked up his mistress's call for help.

"Stand between me and the dog!" he yelled. "You come any closer, robot, and I'll shoot someone!"

K-9 stayed perfectly still. Hanson made sure Romana stood directly between the robot and himself. The three women stood rigid with fear. There was no sound except for the spider energy discharging from the web.

"Somebody want to tell me who this nut is?" Angela asked.

"Alan, listen," Julia said. "This isn't worth it. You need to understand that the colony we're setting up at New Pacifica is much more important than any agenda you might have."

"You have no idea what my agenda is!" he snarled.

"Don't I? I used to work for the Council, too. So did this woman. You want to know about Reilly? I'll tell you about Reilly. He's not someone you can trust."

"Oh, and you are?"

"Much more so than him. He could have told you how to pilot the colony ship to rendezvous with him at G889, so why didn't he?"

"I told you!" he snapped. "Within a year, the planet would have caught up with the ship in its orbit. All I had to do was wait. It was all perfect until _these_ two came along!" he pointed the gun at Romana.

"No, it wasn't perfect," Romana said, realizing where Julia was going with this. "The colony ship was orbiting the sun at normal velocity. It was hidden on the opposite side of the solar system for over two months. Eden Advance never once detected it in the sky. The two orbits _matched._ The planet would never have caught up with you. Reilly left you out there to die. You had already fulfilled your purpose."

"You're lying!"

"Then answer my question," Julia said. "Why didn't Reilly simply give you instructions over the radio on how to fly the ship? He could have, you know."

Hanson swallowed hard. He didn't say anything.

"Reilly betrayed you," Julia said, stepping forward a little.

Hanson stepped back, shaking his head. "No."

"Yes, he did. That's what he does. Tell me, what kind of bomb was planted on the outside of that fuel tank?"

"That wasn't my doing!" he screeched.

"I know it wasn't. That bomb was designed to kill everyone on board." Julia stepped forward some more. "Including you."

Hanson took two more steps back, shaking his head. "No. No, that's- that's not _true!"_

With that, he stretched his arm out fully, intending to kill Julia.

But he had taken one step too many. Just as he pulled the trigger, a burst of white energy wrapped around him, and he was gone.

Julia took the one remaining ice-spider from her jacket pocket and threw it into the web to join the brown ones. It caught on a strand and hung there. The web was neutralized, and the energy died away.

The tunnel was closed.

Hanson fired at Julia, but the bullet hit the wall of an icy cavern.

He stared about him in surprise. Suddenly, he was freezing. Hearing a vicious snarl, he spun around and screamed.

He was only able to fire once more as the wolves jumped him.

* * *

Shoving aside all thoughts of those who had died, Alonzo gritted his teeth and bucked the wind for every angle he could get.

"It's no use!" he cried. "We're never going to level out like this!"

"What would happen if we switched on the main engines again?" the Doctor yelled.

"No good!" Alonzo yelled back. "No maneuvering power!"

"What about emergency parachutes?"

"Not for a ship this size! Doctor, we've got to-"

Alonzo suddenly stopped as he looked at the ground coming up to meet them.

The ground.

"Hang on! Can you take over the entire ship? I've got to go somewhere!"

"There's nowhere you _can_ go!" the Doctor shouted back. "If you leave your seat, the g-forces will send you across the room!"

"No! I've got to go somewhere in my head!" Alonzo tapped his temple.

The Doctor took over the controls. He was now balancing the descent with the retro thrusters as well as he could while simultaneously trying to catch the wind as Alonzo had done.

Alonzo tried to relax, found himself thinking of Julia. With an effort, he put her out of his mind. He focused on the Terrians.

And he entered the dream plane.

Time seemed to slow down. He felt himself deep in a cave. A Terrian appeared before him.

 _I need your help,_ Alonzo said. _Many of us will die if you do not act quickly._

The Terrian stared at him curiously. After a moment, Alonzo got the sensation that the Terrian was asking for specific instructions.

Alonzo visualized what he needed, and felt resistance.

 _I know it won't be easy,_ he said. _It will not be easy for us, either. Please help us._

The Terrian regarded him thoughtfully.

 _Please..._

Alonzo opened his eyes. The Terrian had left him.

"Please..." he whispered.

And far below, a massive force of over 100 Terrians rose up from the ground.

Together, they stared up at the ship screaming down through their atmosphere. They watched silently, as if it was simply an interesting spectacle.

As one, they raised their staffs and charged them, lightning crackling on the tips, and fired a massive burst of energy which blinded the eyes. It roared up into the sky and exploded against the side of the vessel-

hurling the ship's nose high into the air.

All the doctors, children and their families in A ward screamed and tried to hold on as the ship tilted sharply, throwing them against the walls. Lights went out in a series of explosions, and fires broke out across the ward.

Alonzo and the Doctor immediately swung all thrusters straight down, struggling to keep the angle on life the Terrians had given them.

The Terrians looked on curiously as the ship roared by overhead.

Ahead of its path, more Terrians appeared. Popping out of the ground everywhere, they started grabbing any animals which were about to be crushed and pulled them down to safety. A family of Grendlers living in a small cave yelled in terror as Terrians pulled them into the earth just as the colony ship landed on G889 and disintegrated their home.

Alonzo and the Doctor held on. All they could do was watch helplessly as the ship skewed sideways and plowed on over the land with the noise of continuous thunder, sending trees and hills flying. Ahead of them, they could see Terrians dotting the landscape, rescuing all the living creatures they could find as the metal giant bore down on them.

The forward viewscreens cracked and sprayed glass over the two pilots, cutting their faces. They shut their eyes against the wind which roared through the opening. Then the forward part of the vessel struck the spur of a mountain and the ship spun around violently as it skidded across the land.

After about two miles, the ship finally ground to a halt.

The colonists had arrived.

Slowly, Alonzo opened his eyes and breathed deeply. His hand shaking, he numbly reached forward and activated a gear channel.

"Colony ship to Eden Advance," he said. "Devon, are you there?"

"We're here, Alonzo!" Julia replied.

Alonzo sat bolt upright. "Julia?" he asked.

"That's right!" his girlfriend answered. "We're alive! I was in the part of the ship that broke off, but a couple of spiders gave their lives for us!"

Alonzo was crying. "You're alive," was all he could say.

"Yeah," she answered. "We all are. You did it, this time, flyboy. You got it down."

"Yeah," he breathed, the tears running free. "I did it." Then he saw Terrians standing outside, some distance away, looking at him. He nodded to them, and turned to the Doctor.

"We _all_ did it," he said.


	9. Chapter 7

"We all did it!" one of the elders exclaimed.

"Yes, but just because we all joined the Dreaming does not mean we have to change the way we live, or take drastic action," another said.

Clebadee turned away from the debate in the central chamber to find the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara approaching.

"What's going on, Clebadee?" Ian asked.

"They are discussing something which I do not like the sound of," he answered. "Some of the elders do not like the negative side of becoming connected, and are trying to rid us of it."

"The negative side?" Ian asked. "What negative side? What are they talking about?"

"Most everything in the universe has a negative side," the Doctor said. "Few things are truly perfect."

"Yet, perfection is what they seek," Clebadee answered. "Over the last few days, since we all came together in the Dreaming, we have all been able to sense one another's emotions - the pleasant ones as well as the unpleasant ones. We can feel each other's anger or frustration quite easily, and it is very distracting and confusing. Sometimes, it is even painful."

"Well, surely that's something you will all simply have to learn to deal with," Barbara said.

"I would have thought so. But several of the elders - including Darlo - say that they have a better solution."

Clebadee quickly glanced around, then took the four travelers to one side and lowered his voice. "They say that they have been exploring the Dreaming, and finding out things. But something about the way Elder Darlo speaks within the debate makes me feel very uncomfortable. He wants things to be his way." Clebadee paused for a moment. "Is that what you meant, Doctor, when you said he might have other reasons for becoming an elder?"

"To have power over others is a powerful stimulant," the Doctor said. "You will notice how quickly Darlo accepted the Dreaming when it seemed he would be outnumbered if he did not. He walks tall and speaks with a loud voice, and that makes people assume he knows what he's talking about when he might, in fact, be full of rubbish. He is what humans like to call a 'politician.'"

Barbara asked Clebadee, "What is he proposing that makes you so nervous?"

"It is most perplexing and unbelievable," Clebadee replied. "He wants to take all the strong emotions that hurt us, such as grief and rage, and...and...put them somewhere else so we will not have to deal with them any more. I must confess, I do not understand all of it."

"Is such a thing possible?" Ian asked.

The Doctor rubbed his chin. "I don't know. I wouldn't have thought the Terrians could do something like that. But it sounds dangerous. Clebadee has every right to be afraid."

"How come they're all talking to each other?" Susan asked. "Shouldn't the Terrians be dreaming together?"

"Not all of my people have become accustomed to the Dreaming," Clebadee explained. "Besides, I suspect..." he looked hesitantly at the Doctor, "I suspect that Darlo has not yet mastered the art of shouting on the dream plane, and therefore still uses his voice."

The Doctor clasped his hands together and smiled proudly at Clebadee.

One of the Terrians in the central chamber raised his own voice. "What you are proposing would go against nature itself! Even so, I cannot believe you can do it."

Clebadee and the four travelers stood again in the opening to the chamber, watching curiously.

"I feel we can!" Darlo said. "And we must! Whenever we enter the Dreaming, we become acutely aware of what everyone else is feeling! If any Terrian at all is having a bad time, or is angry, everyone else around him feels it! In some cases, some Terrians have experienced such anger from their fellows that they actually collapsed in pain. This condition must be eliminated, for we cannot live that way!"

"Yes, we can!"

Everyone in the central chamber turned to face the door. Clebadee stood there, surprised at himself.

"You have no part in these proceedings, youngster," Darlo snapped.

Barbara found herself stepping forward. "Bold words for someone who tried to kill him only four days ago!"

The Terrians murmured together, and looked at each other uncomfortably.

"That has already been discussed," Darlo stated simply. "All crimes arising from fear of the Dreaming have been pardoned unconditionally. The past is behind us."

"Yet I must point out, Elder Darlo," Clebadee said, "that you did not have the answers then. So what makes you think you have them now?"

"As I said, young one, you are not a part of these proceedings!"

"But I have something to say!" Clebadee suddenly snapped.

Everyone stared at him.

"I may not be as old as you, Elder Darlo, or as tall as you, or speak as loudly as you, but I do have my own mind and my own heart and my own ideas. And perhaps I, too, can be an elder. And I say that you are wrong!"

Clebadee strode boldly into the chamber. "We have always had to live with each other. To tolerate each other. Why is it suddenly so different now that we are one with the Dreaming? The Dreaming has opened up our hearts and our emotions, so now they are not so private, and we see and feel what is in our fellow Terrians more easily. The walls between us as individuals have fallen away. But does that mean we have to be afraid?"

Clebadee slowly circled the chamber, eyeing each of them in turn.

"This is a challenge, and challenges are opportunities to _learn._ Think of how much we can grow by having to deal with what is really inside of us, instead of stuffing it away in some hidden corner. This is a chance to learn about cooperation, and to learn about how delicate and rewarding it can be."

He turned to Darlo. "You cannot keep overcoming obstacles by simply destroying them."

Everyone was silent.

Darlo finally said, "I see now that the strangers you have befriended have corrupted you, young Clebadee." He eyed the four travelers in the doorway. "Especially their leader, who calls himself 'the Doctor.'"

"No," Clebadee replied. "Not corrupted, Elder Darlo. Freed. The Doctor has freed me to think for myself, instead of blindly accepting whatever others have to say. That is what he does! He frees people.

"I have spoken with his granddaughter, who has told me of other wondrous places they have been, places stranger and more magnificent than any of us could imagine! He travels through the universe, and it seems to me that he frees people wherever he goes. He frees them from the shackles which bind them, both on the inside and on the outside. Who among us can say the same?"

There was silence again as everyone thought about what Clebadee said.

Another Terrian spoke hesitantly. "This...alien. He is the one who first surmised what the Dreaming truly is?"

"He is," Clebadee nodded.

"I would hear him speak."

Clebadee looked around the chamber as, one by one, the other Terrians nodded agreement at this idea. Watching the tide turn carefully, Darlo also nodded and apprehensively sat down.

The Doctor grasped the lapels of his coat and stepped into the chamber, forming his words carefully. "I would not have chosen to speak to such an assembly as this, being an outsider as I am. But since you have asked, I shall not deny your request. What is it, exactly, you wish to hear?"

"What is your opinion of Elder Darlo's idea?" one of the Terrians asked hesitantly.

"Well, in order to answer that, I shall need to know what, exactly, he is proposing."

They all looked at Darlo, who suddenly felt very intimidated, having to explain himself to the smooth-skinned creature with the silver tongue, as he thought him.

"I propose to take all the aggression, all the anger, all the rage which disturbs us so deeply, and channel it from all over the land into one single creature and bury it deep beneath the ground."

"I see," the Doctor said. "And what makes you think you can do this?"

"Because I already have."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"Several days ago, I was extremely angry over something," Darlo explained. "Elder Zilin came to me, and he was concerned for my well-being. Before either of us knew what had happened, I felt very calm, and my anger grew less, while he grew very agitated in turn. We eventually realized that he had somehow taken my anger onto himself, out of a desire to help me."

"I see," the Doctor said.

"I was intrigued by what happened, of course," Darlo continued. "So I got angry about something else, and entered the Dreaming. There, I put my anger inside a koba and then killed it. The anger came back to me. So I did it again with another one, and this time, simply imprisoned it. The anger stayed where I had put it. I felt calm, and consequently, so did the others around me. When this happened, I knew I had discovered the answer to our problem."

"You have discovered nothing, sir, except a way to force another to suffer your misery instead of dealing with it yourself," the Doctor answered, flicking a finger at him and narrowing his eyes. "Everything my young friend said was true. The Dreaming has broken down barriers amongst you, forcing all of you to deal with each other and with yourselves - in essence, with _who you are._ And you are trying to run away from it, instead of striving to meet the challenge of having to work together on an emotional level.

"Also, anger is not always a bad thing. It can be a useful thing, if used in the right way."

Darlo was quivering with rage as he stood up. "How dare you..." he said.

"I dare," the Doctor said simply. "This assembly has asked for my opinion, and I have given it. Now if you don't mind, I shall be on my way." He bowed.

"Go!" Darlo shouted. "Go now, before I-"

There was an anguished cry from the other side of the chamber. The Doctor spun to see a Terrian clutching his chest, rolling on the floor in pain.

It was Clebadee.

All around the chamber, other Terrians were moaning and clutching their heads.

Darlo breathed in deeply. Slowly, deliberately, he sat back down. The moaning died away. Clebadee sat up.

"Do you see, Doctor?" Darlo asked quietly. "We are all connected now. All of us. We must be rid of these emotions which damage us."

"I agree, Elder Darlo," Clebadee said weakly as he slowly stood up. "But this...is not...the way to do it."

Darlo stared at him coldly. "I am sorry that you feel that way...young one," he said. The other Terrians in the chamber were all nodding their heads. An agreement seemed to have been reached.

"You are dismissed, Doctor," Darlo said. "We have no further use for you."

The Doctor raised his chin and stared at him briefly. Then he turned and strode silently from the chamber.

 _No, Doctor,_ thought Darlo as he watched him go. _That is not quite true. We do have one final use for you yet._

* * *

The Doctor stood on top of the colony ship, one foot resting on the hatch cover in front of him, his hand over his brow shielding his eyes in a dramatic pose. He stared aft at the damage the ship had caused.

"Well, Alonzo," the Doctor said. "If any of your new colonists wish to try their hand at farming, this might make a good place."

Alonzo nodded, looking at the deep trench of cleared ground the ship had cut into the planet.

They had actually come to rest only 30 miles south-southeast of New Pacifica. Alonzo had briefly toyed with the idea of telling Devon that he had managed to get the ship that close on purpose, but he didn't think she'd find it too funny.

Around them, Danziger and his ops crew, along with some of the uninjured people from the colony ship, were salvaging materials and machinery which had broken free of the ship's cargo pods and were now strewn about the landscape.

The members of Eden Advance, who had been on the planet for two years, worked very quickly. They knew, better than the colonists who had just arrived, exactly how fast Grendlers could be.

The hospital staff on A ward had already evacuated everyone from the ship. The Syndrome children and the wounded alike were lying on cots or on the ground all around the ship. Several people on board were dead. No effort had been made yet to remove them.

The dunerail appeared over the hill.

"Julia!" Alonzo shouted, and waved.

Julia waved back. Alonzo leaped down through the hatch again to meet her.

The Doctor followed him. His little break was over, and there was still work to do.

* * *

Outside, some of the workers paused for a moment to take a break of their own. Danziger, Walman, Baines, Magus, Cameron, Denner and Mazatl all stood together, breathing heavily, sweat shining on their brows.

"Well," Baines said, looking at the crashed ship. "I guess this answers our question."

The others all nodded.

* * *

"Good-bye, Clebadee!" Susan said, shaking his hand lightly, knowing how Terrians did not like to be touched overly much. "I'm going to miss you." Her voice echoed around the cavern.

"And I shall miss you," he said. "All of you. But I cannot blame you for going. Not after what happened today."

"Well, I think we've just outstayed our welcome, is all," Ian said. "No hard feelings. I think despite everything, you'll do all right."

"I am sure we will," Clebadee answered.

"And I have no doubt you will be an elder yourself, someday," the Doctor smiled. "Especially after the way you put Darlo in his place."

"Thank you, Doctor. Allow me to walk with you to your craft." He picked up his staff, which he'd made himself since entering the Dreaming, and led them towards the exit.

"Do you think Darlo will go ahead and do what he said he'd do?" Barbara asked.

"I am not sure," Clebadee answered. "It seems like such a huge thing to force an entire race to do."

There was a rustle of displaced earth, and suddenly the group found themselves surrounded by Terrians.

"The answer to your question," Darlo said, "is, 'Yes.'"

The Terrians attacked them, shoving the five friends against the tunnel wall and pinning them there.

"What is the meaning of this?" Clebadee asked, struggling vainly against his captor's grip.

"If you recall," Darlo said pleasantly, "I need a creature to hold the anger and the rage which I wish for us to be rid of. That creature needs to have a strong will, a strong constitution - and most of all, it needs to be someone expendable."

He looked at the Doctor.

"No!" Clebadee yelled. "I will not allow it!"

"You have no choice," Darlo said, then faced the Doctor. "You have been nothing but trouble since the moment you arrived. It pleases me to sacrifice you as the means for our race's survival."

"You can't mean this!" Barbara shouted.

"It has already been decided! There was very little opposition. We are all in pain, and must be freed. That was what Clebadee said you did, was it not, Doctor? Free people?" He smiled, and gurgled with pleasure. "I shall take you very far away, and channel the energy, and lock you away for eternity!"

 _"NO!"_ Clebadee shouted again, and before anyone knew what was happening, lightning erupted from his staff and blew Darlo back across the tunnel.

Everyone looked at him in surprise. The other Terrians jumped back, releasing them.

"How did you do that?" Ian asked.

"I- I do not know," Clebadee said wonderingly, looking at his staff. "It...just happened."

"It must be something to do with the Dreaming," Susan said. "Grandfather - he can channel the energy of the planet!"

"Yes," the Doctor said quietly. "In a similar way that Darlo says he can, I expect."

Darlo stood up. "Yes," he said. "And if he can do that, then perhaps so can _I!"_ And with that he picked up his own staff, planted it in the ground, and shot a burst of energy back at Clebadee.

The blast hit Clebadee full in the chest, and he slumped to the ground.

Darlo leaped across the cave and tackled the Doctor, and they both disappeared into the tunnel wall.

They flew through the ground together. The Doctor dared not struggle. If he broke free of Darlo's grip, he would be stuck beneath the ground.

They emerged into another, smaller cave. The Doctor looked around him, and was startled by an explosion behind him.

No, not an explosion, he realized - a very controlled, precise burst of energy. As he watched, a white light seemed to grow from a point a million miles beyond the cave wall. It stretched into the cave and pulled back again. He felt the air rush by him in suction as he stood there. Turning around, he saw spider webs near the cave entrance.

The web paths, Clebadee had called them.

"How far have we traveled from the others?" the Doctor asked.

"Not far," Darlo reassured him. "The others are but two valleys distant, but we are about to travel much further. They will have no way of knowing where we have gone, and my fellow Terrians are preparing the transfer as we speak." And with that, Darlo grabbed the Doctor again and leaped into the path of the next burst of energy.

It was freezing.

The Doctor looked around. They were in an ice cavern of some sort. Darlo ushered him outside, and he saw that they were on a short cliff overlooking a grey sea. The cold was intense, and the wind was sharp. Floating on the sea all around were ice floes. Darlo shoved the Doctor to the cliff's edge.

"Into the water, Doctor!" Darlo commanded, and spread his arms wide.

"If you think you can force me to do anything, you are quite mis- _oh!"_ The Doctor buckled over, clutching his chest. It felt as if something had just hit him.

When he looked up, everything was different. The world around him seemed to move in slow motion. Sound echoed. Below him, the waves crashed into the cliff face with a terrible force. He felt he could hear every drop hit the shore.

"Wh- where are we?" he asked.

"We are in the Dreaming, Doctor," Darlo answered, without using words. "It is here the transfer shall take place. Already, I can feel the energy from all over my world gathering together. Soon, the Terrian people shall be free of it all."

The Doctor fell to his knees, then onto his face. It felt as if the entire world were crushing him. He gathered all his mental power and fought the transfer, but was overwhelmed.

He was fighting off an entire planet, and he knew he couldn't win.

* * *

The Doctor examined the microscope in Julia's medical hut with minute interest.

"I want to thank you for staying and helping us, Doctor," Julia said.

"Oh, it was nothing," he replied without looking up. "Besides, we haven't found the TARDIS, yet. It was right in the corridor where the hospital ward broke away from the ship, so it could be anywhere on the planet's surface."

Julia was silent for a moment. "You don't seem very worried about it."

"Well, the TARDIS is a grown ship. She can take care of herself. A five mile drop is a mere bump on the head to a ship as tough as the TARDIS. I wouldn't even be surprised if she landed right side up." He smiled.

"Why didn't you just pile everyone on board the TARDIS and bring them safely here?" she asked. There was no accusation in her voice, only curiosity.

"Logistics, mainly," the Doctor said. "And safety. The TARDIS interior is huge, but full of corridors, and there are some sections that not even I've been to yet. People would have gotten lost, and it would have been a difficult job finding them all again.

"But mainly it was because of the saboteur. If I had tried to put everyone in the TARDIS, Hanson would have been forced to do something very drastic in order to keep us all in space. And he would have had plenty of time to do something, because it would have taken several hours, at least, to put everyone on my ship. Bringing people to G889 in my TARDIS was something I was more than willing to do, but I wanted the saboteur caught, first. I just didn't realize that Hanson had been double-crossed himself by whomever planted that bomb, and that we'd already run out of time."

They left the medical hut and made their way to the central hall. Around them were a thousand people building a colony - erecting huts, caring for the injured in the tents Eden Advance had dug back out. A plane roared by overhead, bringing in another load of people from one of the colony ship's evac pods. Two such planes had been salvaged from the cargo, and Danziger had high hopes he could repair a third.

Some ways off, Zero dispassionately swiveled his head to follow K-9 as the robot dog circled around him.

In the central hall they found all the members of Eden Advance, along with Romana and Dr. Vasquez. Romana and Devon were at the table studying something.

"Doctor," Devon called. "Come and take a look at this."

The Doctor and Julia looked at each other.

"I think she was talking to you."

"No, no, I think she was talking to you."

 _"Both_ of you," Devon said.

They approached the table. "What is it?" Julia asked.

"Oh, just something you need to know if you're going to stay here," Romana said. "I took a walk in the woods this morning, up in the hills, and I found the most peculiar things. Take a look at these."

On the table were assorted leaves, jars of dirt, and the bones of small animals.

Julia shook her head. "What am I supposed to be seeing?"

"Well, life evolves in a similar manner on most worlds with oceans," Romana explained. "And these animals are definitely the remains of different kinds of fish and other aquatic life, and I wondered what they could possibly be doing so far away from shore, as it didn't look like they'd been eaten by any bird or other life form. So I picked a few leaves and collected a few soil samples and brought them back for study, and I found a high salt content in them!" She beamed brightly.

Julia said, "So...there was a massive tidal wave?"

"Exactly!" Romana exclaimed. "Sometime last year, I should think. That's the only way to account for such things being high in the hills above New Pacifica."

"Which is something you need to watch out for," the Doctor said. "Tidal waves happen every now and then. But before they do, the undertow creates a massive pull, and shortly before a tidal wave comes into shore, the ocean actually retreats away from the land."

"So if you ever see that happen," Romana said, "run for it."

Danziger laughed in admiration. "We will," he promised. He couldn't help but notice that Devon was very quiet all of a sudden. She was looking intently at the objects on the table.

"There's one thing I don't understand," Baines said. "What caused the colony ship to crash?"

"There was a bomb on the outside of the ship," the Doctor said. "That was why the resonance scan you ran back on the stations didn't catch it. It was planted on the outside of the fuel tank, and it almost succeeded in doing exactly what it was designed to do."

"But why did it go off when the ship reached G889?" Bess asked. "Why not sooner?"

"Well, there's no way to be sure," the Doctor said, "but I suspect that it was a gravity-triggered mine. Causing the ship to spin in open space wouldn't have really done anything, so they designed the bomb to be triggered only when it approached a huge gravitational force."

"But if someone really wanted to kill all of us," Morgan said, "all they needed to do was plant a small nuclear warhead in both ships and blow us to kingdom come halfway here. That way there wouldn't have been _any_ survivors."

"And what does that tell you, Mr. Martin?" the Doctor asked.

"It tells me that-" Morgan suddenly hesitated. His face cleared. "It tells me that they wanted us to survive."

"Some of you, I'm sure," the Doctor said. "They didn't have anything against you founding a colony, as long as they retained control of the planet. No, Mr. Martin, they sabotaged your ships because they just didn't want anyone coming _back."_

Everyone was silent for a moment.

Outside, people suddenly started screaming.

They all ran outside to find a Terrian standing in the middle of the town. Several colonists were hesitantly aiming magpros at it, but most were running.

"Nonononononono," Danziger ran out into the street, motioning for everyone to put down their weapons. "It's all right. He's a friend. He doesn't mean us any harm." He looked at the Terrian. "I'm pretty sure."

The Doctor gazed thoughtfully at the Terrian. "You know, he looks familiar." Then he snapped his fingers. "Of course! Terrians! You people have colonized the planet of the Terrians! I had no idea! My word, they have changed, haven't they?"

"He needs something," Alonzo said. He walked up to the Terrian and closed his eyes.

After a moment he opened them. He turned around and looked at the Doctor.

"He says he needs you."

"Me?" The Doctor walked forward.

The Terrian held out his hand.

"He wants you to dream with him," Alonzo said. "He says you need to go back."

"Go back? Go back where?"

Alonzo looked at the Terrian again. "He won't say. I get the feeling it's a private message for you."

The Doctor stood in front of the Terrian. Somehow, he instinctively knew what to do. He closed his eyes.

Time seemed to slow down. The Terrian was speaking to him in a way that wasn't quite speaking. In a flash of light, they were standing on a cliff beside an icy sea. An older Terrian, different from the one who had summoned him, was standing over an old man with his arms spread wide. The old man on the ground was writhing in pain.

"What's going on?" the Doctor asked, although it seemed familiar. He felt he should know, as if he'd been there before.

He bent down to look at the old man, and in a flash, the Doctor knew where he was.

He _had_ been there before.

"So that's what happened," he said. "I'd always wondered." He stood up and looked at Darlo, still crying aloud as the energy of the planet coursed through his body.

The Doctor put out his hand. "Stop!" he said.

Darlo heard a voice, and opened his eyes.

Standing before him was another man, with dark curly hair, his hand outstretched.

"What...?" Darlo asked. The confusion caused him to falter, and his body jerked once. He could barely control the energy.

"What you're doing is wrong, Darlo," the strange man said.

Darlo jerked again, more confused than ever.

"Yes, that's right - I know who you are. I remember. You shot that poor young fellow in the chest, didn't you? It's a miracle he survived."

"What- what is going on?" Darlo asked.

"Retribution," the Doctor said darkly. He turned to the figure on the ground. "Come on. Get up."

The white-haired man with the cane got to his feet, and they stood there side by side - the Doctor in his first incarnation and the Doctor in his fourth incarnation, meeting on the dream plane. Together, they faced Darlo, and concentrated. The Terrian from the future stood by and watched.

Darlo bent over backwards. "No!" he screeched. "No! Not me! Not... _me!"_

The two Doctors, applying the full force of their wills, turned the energy back onto Darlo. He staggered from side to side, wrestling with the energy as it slowly possessed him. He staggered in a half circle all the way around them, and with a shriek he fell into the icy sea.

The emotional energy churning across the planet, seeking him as a conduit, found him, and stopped inside him. Swirling through the sky and up from the ground, whipping around them in a storm of light, it swirled down in a funnel and deposited itself inside Darlo.

There was a final flash of light, and all was still.

The First Doctor opened his eyes. He was on the ground, alone and back in the real world. Carefully, he stood up. He could tell he had been unconscious for hours, for night had fallen while he'd slept. His body had slowed his metabolism to keep him alive in the sub-zero temperatures.

Brushing himself off, he turned around and came face to face with Darlo.

A block of ice had frozen around the Terrian. It stood precariously on the cliff's edge. The elder was frozen in a moment of pain, hatred and rage, his mouth open in a soundless scream, his eyes alight with fury.

"Hmp," the Doctor said, grabbing the lapels of his coat. "A fitting end, for someone who had every chance to avoid it. Although, just between you and me, I'm not quite sure how it happened. Maybe someday I'll find out, eh?"

Looking down at the water, then up at the two moons in the sky, the Doctor realized that the double high tide must have deposited the frozen Terrian back on the cliff top during the afternoon, while he'd slept.

The Doctor gazed out over the gray sea. "Now, what was it you said? 'Buried in the earth?' I imagine the planet will fulfill its duty and swallow you, and there is no telling where you will end up. The deed has been done - the Terrian people have made their choice, and you, my friend, have paid the price."

The Doctor stepped right up to the block of ice and looked Darlo in the eye.

"May no one ever find you," he said, and blew a little puff of air.

Immediately the cliff edge cracked, and the block of ice slowly toppled back into the sea.

Before it even hit the water, the Doctor had spun on his heel and was headed back to the cave.


	10. Chapter 8

Under Romana's guidance, Julia checked the Doctor out with her scanner while the others looked on.

The Time Lord was laid out in the medical hut, and not even Romana knew what was wrong with him. Seconds after starting to dream with the Terrian, the Doctor had yelled in pain and collapsed.

"Respiration at six breaths per minute," Julia said. "Pulse down to ten per minute, with his two hearts alternating every pulse." She raised her eyes to look at Romana. "Normal or abnormal?"

She sighed. "It sounds like a self-induced coma. Whatever happened with the Terrian on the dream plane, it must have been very traumatic."

Julia looked over at Alonzo. "Any idea what happened?"

"No," he shook his head. "Before he left, the Terrian told me that the Doctor had to forget, that he _would_ forget. He said that was how it happened, and how it would always happen. I don't understand what he was talking about, but I got the feeling that it had something to do with time. He said...he said that a chapter of the planet has come full circle, and the Doctor has made his destiny."

Julia raised her eyebrows at Romana, who just looked thoughtful.

Devon, her arms folded and her head bowed in thought, turned and walked outside.

A moment later, Danziger followed her.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked.

She looked up at him. "Do you remember when we first met the Doctor, how I told you that I asked him to take us to New Pacifica, and why he refused?"

"Yeah," he scratched his head. "Something about the network of time, or the web of time, or some such technobabble. Something about how he couldn't bring us here before we were supposed to arrive, because he'd already met us here." He jerked his head at the medical hut. "And I guess the meeting he was talking about was this one."

"Yes. Well, when I asked him to give us a lift, what he actually said was, 'What if I took you to New Pacifica and a tidal wave washed you all out to sea?'"

Danziger stared at her in disbelief. "He said that?"

"Yes. He knew about the tidal wave, John. He _remembered_ that. He knew that if we were standing here on this very spot sometime last year...we might have all died.

"I also remember something that you said to me a couple of years ago, just after we crashed. I remember I was worried about all the trouble we were having, and I was beginning to think we weren't going to make it. And you said something I've never forgotten, something which made me realize that I could trust you, no matter how much we disagreed."

"Oh, yeah?" he asked. "What was that?"

"You told me that you believe things happen for a reason."

Danziger nodded, and scratched his nose with his thumb absently.

"If the Doctor's right," Devon continued, "and the bomb on the colony ship was triggered by gravity...then the ship was saved by the fact that it was off course."

Danziger nodded hesitantly. "Yes, I suppose that's true."

"Not only that, but if our Advance ship hadn't crashed, we...we would have been here at New Pacifica when that tidal wave hit last year."

"Now, don't go jumping to conclusions, Adair-"

"I'm serious! John, that tidal wave might have hit in the middle of the night, when no one would have seen it coming! If the Advance ship had never been sabotaged, we would have set down here, in this spot, as planned, two years ago - and we might have all been washed away. We might all be alive _because_ the Council sabotaged the ship - not in spite of it!"

Danziger sighed. "And if the Council _hadn't_ sabotaged the ship, maybe Wentworth and Firestein would still be alive. Devon, we don't know what would have happened, what wouldn't have happened, if this or that had been different. We'll _never_ know. Yes, I still believe that things happen for a reason, but I think that if you start trying to work out what those reasons are, it'll drive you crazy."

He nodded back towards the medical hut. "Let's leave the time travel theories and cosmic what-iffing to the Time Lords, and just concentrate on doing what we do best, which is living our lives as best we can day to day."

Devon's face softened, as she realized what he said made sense. She just smiled and nodded. Danziger put his arm around her shoulders and they walked back inside.

* * *

"Grandfather!" Susan shouted. She ran and threw her arms around the old man who had just arrived in the tunnel. He hugged her back.

Ian, Barbara and Clebadee all stood up and approached him.

"What happened?" Susan asked.

"Well, Darlo's plan succeeded, to a certain extent," the Doctor replied. "I take it the Terrian people are at peace now?"

"We are, Doctor," Clebadee answered. "I feel no anger or bitterness inside me, even for Darlo."

"Well, I wouldn't if I were you, even if you could. Darlo, I'm afraid, has paid the price for his rash actions, and it wasn't me the planet sacrificed on your behalf - it was him."

Clebadee bowed his head in respect.

"So what happens now?" Ian asked. "Are the Terrians completely unable to get angry? If someone attacked them, would they not fight back?"

"Yes, we still have anger we can bring to bear on any outsider who tries to harm us," Clebadee answered. "Although," he hesitated, searching inside himself, "I now feel completely repulsed by the thought of ever attempting to harm another of my race, even in self-defense. It is most...fascinating." He looked at the Doctor, copying the word which the Time Lord used so much.

The Doctor smiled.

"Clebadee," Barbara said, "you are now living with a choice you didn't make. Are you comfortable with that?"

"Yes," Clebadee answered. "I believe so. I do not know why, but I feel from the ground beneath my feet that everything is now as it should be. Anyway, I could still break our laws. Darlo's actions today do not mean that I am incapable of free will. I could still break the agreement with the earth, and kill others and steal from them if I really wanted to."

"And what would happen to any Terrian who did that?" Ian asked.

"They would become outcasts, as always," Clebadee answered. "Only now, becoming an outcast would be very painful, as it would mean separating a Terrian from the Dreaming. I imagine it would be torment for any such Terrian - a torment relieved only by death."

They left the cave together and walked down the hill to the stream, where a blue police telephone box sat lazily in the sunshine. Its visage reflected in ripples from the sparkling water as they approached.

"We shall remember you, Doctor," Clebadee said. "The land, my people, shall remember you always, and if ever you visit us again, we will know you. We will know you all."

"Thank you," the Doctor bowed.

Hesitantly, Clebadee raised his hand and asked, "If you will permit me, Doctor?"

The Doctor nodded, intrigued.

Clebadee placed his hand over the Doctor's forehead. "Dream," he said.

They stood like that for several seconds with their eyes closed. Clebadee pulled away, and the Doctor opened his eyes.

"Fortunetelling," the Doctor said, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "The Dreaming is somehow linked to the fabric of time. Your planet is simply full of surprises, my young friend!"

"Grandfather, what happened?" Susan asked.

"My earth has looked into the Doctor's future," Clebadee answered. "And into yours. Upon leaving this place, Ian and Barbara, you will indeed return to your home."

Ian and Barbara broke into amazed smiles and looked at each other.

"But I am afraid that you will not find it to your liking," Clebadee added.

Their faces fell. "What do you mean by that?" asked Ian.

"That is all I can tell you," Clebadee said. "And for you, Doctor, I give you a name. This name does not come from us, but we give it to you nonetheless. You are both the bringer of chaos and the bringer of peace. We call you, 'Time's Champion.'"

"'Time's Champion?'" he asked. "My dear fellow, I am no Champion of Time."

"You will be," Clebadee answered.

The Doctor looked at him for a long moment, then shook his head. "Fortunetelling," he said. "Always a dangerous business. Should never muck about with it."

Muttering to himself, he opened the door and stepped inside.

"Good-bye, Clebadee!" Susan smiled, and followed him. Ian and Barbara also made their farewells and entered the TARDIS.

The door snapped shut. After a few moments the light on top whirled into life, and the strange box ground its way out of reality and back into the vortex.

* * *

"Time's Champion," the Doctor paced back and forth, his long scarf trailing behind him. "That's what he called me. Terrians on ice. That sounds like an ice-skating show, doesn't it?" He suddenly stopped and turned to Alonzo. "Doesn't it?"

"Uh..." Alonzo spread his arms wide, "whatever you say, Doctor."

"Yes," the Doctor suddenly looked lost and distant again. "Sounds like one of those touring ice-skating shows..."

"What's going on?" Devon asked Julia. They were standing in the doorway, watching the Time Lord curiously. Julia secretly wondered if he'd gone insane.

"I have no idea," she sighed. "He woke up a few minutes ago, but all he's spoken is nonsense. He seems to be disoriented, almost as if...as if he were in two places at once."

Behind them, Danziger leaned down and whispered, "Either that, or he's not there at all."

Devon shot him a quick glare, then turned her worried gaze back to the Doctor.

Danziger's gear beeped. It was Cameron. "John, we found the Doctor's TA- uh, ship. Whatever it's called. K-9 homed in on it. We're bringing it in now."

"All right," he answered. "Take it to the beach, will you?" He looked at Romana. "We found your phone booth. It's on its way."

"Oh, good," she said. "We've got equipment in the TARDIS that's better able to help the Doctor," Romana said. "I think I should take him there."

She grabbed the ends of his scarf and started pulling him out the door. "Come on, Doctor," she said. "This way."

The Doctor followed absently. He was staring at the floor and muttering, completely unaware of where he was going.

"I got those two teachers back, but we were miniaturized when we got there, all of us," he said. "We were only one inch tall. So close, yet so far..."

Once they were outside and he was pointed in the right direction, the Doctor wandered down the beach on his own. One second he would be mumbling, another second he would shout at the sky with his arms wide, laughing like a child. Once he broke into song and did a little dance.

Watching him, Uly and True laughed until they fell over. The Doctor noticed this and broke into a wide grin. It seemed to spur him on to further heights of lunacy.

"Don't worry," Romana told Devon as they followed him. "He's just having one of his funny turns."

"It's odd," Devon said. "Watching him, I can see that he's the same man we met a year ago, but...different. It's difficult to understand."

"Not really," Romana said. "Regeneration is simply how we age. For example, are you the same person you were when you were six years old?"

"Of course not," Devon said.

"How about when you were 16?"

"No."

"And are you the same person now that you'll be when you're 50?"

"I hope not."

Romana leaned in close. _"Yes - you - are!"_ she said. "Of _course_ you're the same person - who else could you be?"

"Well..." Devon said. "Yes, technically, I am me, no matter how old I am at any given time. But in essence, I'm a completely different person at different stages of my life. We all are."

"Exactly!" Romana smiled. "It's no different for Time Lords. Let me tell you something - do you know what I would do if I went back in time and met my younger self?"

"What?"

"I'd slap her silly."

Devon burst out laughing. "I understand completely!" she said. "I'd probably do the same. I don't suppose it's allowed, though, is it?"

"Strictly forbidden to meet yourself," Romana replied. "That's our most important law, and the most dangerous to transgress."

"How much time will pass for the Doctor between now and when he met us last year?" Devon asked.

Romana shrugged. "Hard to say. Probably several hundred years."

"He didn't know who we were when we met him. Nor did he recognize the Terrians."

"Goodness, I suspect not!" Romana answered. "Several hundred years is a long time. Also, whatever trauma he experienced on the dream plane seems to have caused a temporary amnesia of recent events."

Devon nodded. "That would make sense. He only remembered who we were after the Terrians jogged his memory." Then she asked. "How long have you been with him?"

"Oh, several years," Romana answered. "Being with the Doctor has completely changed my life. I could never go back to Gallifrey."

"Why not?"

"I'd suffocate," she said. "Time Lord society has been stagnant for hundreds of thousands of years, and refuses almost all contact with the rest of the universe. I'm ashamed to say it, but my race hides behind a superior technology and a superior attitude. They won't get their lily-white gloves dirty for anything. All they care about are endless ceremonies, pomp and circumstance, and internal politics. Meanwhile, other people suffer, and the Time Lords do nothing to help."

"You sound bitter."

"I suppose I am. I was one of them, you see. I was just as arrogant and stagnant as any of them, until I was chosen to assist the Doctor in finding the Key to Time. I was 139 years old when I left Gallifrey for the first time. When I did, well," she shrugged, "I discovered the universe. The _real_ universe, not the one in books. When my assignment was over, I realized I could never go back.

"There's a transduction barrier around Gallifrey which can shield the Time Lords from almost anything the universe cares to throw at it. But it's not just a protective barrier - it's a prison.

"In fact, it's a crime for a Time Lord to intervene in the affairs of others. The Doctor is one of the few who's allowed to do such a thing, and the Time Lords only allow that grudgingly, because he gave them the sharp end of his tongue when they brought him to trial. He was on the run from them in his early days, you see, back when his granddaughter traveled with him. But they finally caught up with him. He's lucky he wasn't sentenced to death." Romana hesitated. "Even so...they didn't let him go unscathed."

They walked in silence for a moment. Up ahead, the Doctor was entertaining Ulysses and True with yo-yo tricks.

"He's not crazy, is he?" Devon asked.

"Not in the slightest," Romana answered. "That's just a foil, I expect, the way he deals with the universe. The way he deals with being a renegade.

"The Doctor has a shaky relationship with our people. They don't like him running around loose out here, because it embarrasses them. He shows them up by doing it, and they know they can't hold him. But they tolerate him, because whenever the Time Lords are _forced_ to get involved - such as when Gallifrey was invaded by the Sontarans - they are so inexperienced at dealing with real trouble that they have no choice but to call upon the Doctor. From time to time, they actually have to rely on his ability to interfere. And they hate him for it."

Devon smiled briefly in sympathy. "It actually sounds similar to life on the stations," she said. "I know what it's like not to be wanted, to have the people in charge wish they could do away with you, just because you're an embarrassment." She was silent for a moment. "And yet, still need you."

Romana nodded.

Devon shook off her momentary depression. "What did you mean when you said you were assigned to find the Key to Time? How could you be assigned to do something if you were forbidden to get involved?"

Romana smiled. "That was the White Guardian. He's the elemental force of good in the cosmos, an immortal being - a life force far beyond even Time Lords. He's the one who whisked me away from Gallifrey to help the Doctor. The entire universe was in danger of becoming unraveled, and the hidden segments of the Key to Time had to be found and restored in order to save it."

Devon stared at her. "The entire... _universe?"_ she asked.

"All of space and time," Romana answered. She spoke softly, but the weight of her words were staggering, and did not pass her lips lightly. She nodded at the Doctor. "You're looking at possibly the only mortal in all of creation who can claim to have saved the entire universe." She leaned closer to Devon. "And he's done it more than once."

Romana walked on. Devon just stood there, stunned that such a thing as the entire universe could ever be put in danger - that all life everywhere could ever hang by such a tiny thread.

And she looked with renewed wonder at the man who had saved the entire universe as he rolled about in the sand, laughing and kicking his feet in the sunshine.

Then the Doctor bounced to his feet and spoke with Cameron, Baines, Walman, Mazatl and Zero, who were easing the TARDIS off the back of the TransRover and down onto the sand. Coming up to join them were Danziger, Morgan, Bess, Yale, Julia, Alonzo, Magus, Denner and Dr. Vasquez. Walman hopped to the ground, reached back into the TransRover, and picked up K-9. He eased the robot down softly onto the ground and brushed some sand off of him.

As Baines unscrewed the top from a thermos, the Doctor suddenly tilted his head back and sniffed the air.

"Callion tea," he said. "You know, I could swear I smell Callion tea."

"What, you mean this?" Baines offered him the thermos.

The Doctor took one sniff. "Yes!" he exclaimed. "Where did you get this?"

"From the central hut."

"Really? How extraordinary!"

"Julia's the one who discovered it, Doctor," Danziger said. "She found the plant we use to make it."

"Ah!" the Doctor shouted, and turned to Julia. "So you're the one who discovered Callion tea, are you?"

"Am I?" Julia asked. "I've never heard of it."

"You will. That stuff," he pointed at Baines's thermos, "will become a major export from this planet over the next hundred years. It's one of the things that will soon power G889's economy." He suddenly stopped and put his hand to his head. "Or am I thinking of Rogue tea, from the _planet_ Callion, which is a different matter altogether? Oh, well!" he shrugged. "Time to go."

Morgan was immediately by Julia's side. "Hello, Dr. Heller!" he smiled brightly. "You and I need to talk marketing strategy!"

Julia just shook her head. "Morgan..."

The Doctor patted himself down. "Key, key, where is the key?" Horrified, he turned to Romana. "I seem to have misplaced the TARDIS key! And I believe I know who has it." He turned a somewhat menacing stare at Ulysses Adair.

Uly turned to look behind him, then looked back at the Doctor. "Me?" he asked.

"You," the Doctor pointed. "Come here."

Uly approached him. The Doctor bent down and retrieved the TARDIS key from behind Uly's right ear. "Ah! Thought so!" He held the key in front of Uly's face. "I couldn't have left without this."

The others all laughed as Uly clawed behind his ear, trying to figure out how the Doctor's key could possibly have gotten back there.

"Well, everyone," the Doctor said, "it's always refreshing to witness colonists starting over in a brand new home. Mind you, they didn't like me very much at Roanoke, but it's not my fault if they mistook me for a witch. Let's hope you turn out better than that lot, eh? These people are a bit more advanced, wouldn't you say, Romana?"

"That's true."

"No." The Doctor pointed at Danziger's daughter. "That's True. And we're leaving. Good-bye, everybody!"

They all smiled and waved good-bye as the Doctor, Romana and K-9 entered the TARDIS and shut the door.

Devon stood next to Danziger, looking at the police box wistfully. "And several hundred years from now," she said, "a couple of regenerations down the road, he'll land on this planet again. A ZED will fire on him, and he'll almost blow us up with a worm bullet. And he won't remember who we are."

Danziger put his arm around her and squeezed her shoulder. "Well," he said. "Somethin' tells me he'll be okay."

They smiled at each other.

The light on top blinked and whirled, and with a tremendous effort of wheezing and groaning, the TARDIS faded away.

They all turned to go, then stopped and turned as the wheezing, groaning sound reappeared.

And materializing in exactly the same spot as the TARDIS was another box, a plain white cube. As they watched, a door opened in its side and a strange man stepped out.

He was dressed in a regal gown, gold with a dark blue pattern. He wore an odd-looking head-piece, consisting of a skull cap with a wide arch attached to the back of it, as if he were wearing the headrest of a car.

"Do I have the pleasure of addressing the group of people known collectively as 'Eden Advance?'" he asked politely.

Everyone glanced at each other, and Devon stepped forward. "Yes. What do you want?" she asked.

"Allow me to introduce myself." The stranger bowed. "I am Parillon, magistrate of the Castellan's office, High Council of Time Lords, Gallifrey."

He stood there expectantly, as if this would make everything clear.

"And?" Devon asked.

He coughed politely. "Forgive me," he said. "You are acquainted with the Doctor, is that correct?"

"Look, buddy, what do you want?" Danziger suddenly snapped. "You've got everyone spooked by suddenly appearing out of nowhere like that!"

"Oh. So sorry," Parillon smiled. "I have never had contact with humans before, and I wasn't sure how to address you. Let me be succinct." He steepled his fingers for a moment, as if wondering how to phrase what he had to say.

"This is a matter concerning your friend the Doctor, being in his eighth incarnation (er, that's the one you met some time last year, the tall skinny one with the wild hair). He has been apprehended - yet again - by the Castellan's office, and is to be put on trial for a crime he committed while on this planet, and it is a crime most severe. If he is found guilty, he will almost certainly be forfeit his remaining regenerations and sentenced to death."

Everyone was stunned. "Why?" Julia asked. "What did he do?"

"I shall explain on the way."

"The way to where?" Danziger asked.

"To Gallifrey. I have been appointed as the Doctor's defending solicitor, and I am calling the 15 surviving members of Eden Advance, including the children, plus the robot, to serve as witnesses for the defense. I had to wait until the Doctor's fourth incarnation left before I could make contact with you, you see. But now that he is gone, we can be on our way. If you will follow me." He turned to go.

"W- wait a minute," Devon said. "What are you saying? You want us to go with you to another _planet?"_

Parillon turned back, blinking in surprise, as if he was re-evaluating the people in front of him. "Yes," he said. "I believe that is what I said."

"We have a colony here!" Devon snapped, motioning behind her. "A thousand people have just arrived, and they know nothing about this planet! We are the only ones who can help them and guide them! We can't just take off because you want us to!"

"That has been anticipated," Parillon said. "I have been instructed to tell you that, due to special circumstances, I will be allowed to bring you back to this planet mere moments after you left. You will lose no time here. In the meantime, while on Gallifrey, you will be treated as our guests, and shown our best hospitality." He smiled.

Everyone on the beach was silent.

"And what if we don't go?" Danziger asked.

"Then the Doctor will have no defense, and he will be found guilty," Parillon said.

"So, you're saying," Bess said slowly, "that the Doctor's life is in our hands."

"Yes," Parillon replied. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

They all looked at each other, then back at Parillon.

Devon sighed, and shook her head. "I can't believe this!" she exclaimed, and strode forward. One by one, the members of Eden Advance slowly stepped forward and filed into the strange box.

Danziger was last, holding True's hand. He turned to Dr. Vasquez, standing on the beach, bewildered.

"Don't go anywhere, doc," he said. "If all goes well, I guess we'll be right back."

They walked inside and the door closed. With a grating noise, the strange white box quickly disappeared, leaving Dr. Vasquez alone on the sand.

To be concluded in _The Boy Who Would be Time Lord King_.


End file.
